On the night of April 5, 1986, 19-year-old Jeanne Clery left the door to her dorm room unlocked because her roommate had lost a key and was expected to return later.

On the night of April 5, 1986, 19-year-old Jeanne Clery left the door to her dorm room unlocked because her roommate had lost a key and was expected to return later.

Jeanne was a freshman at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

She was the youngest of Howard and Connie Clery's three children.

Jeanne had been born the day before Thanksgiving in 1966, and her family lovingly called her their “turkey baby.”

That night, a Lehigh sophomore named Josoph Henry entered Stoughton Hall.

Jeanne did not know him.

Although the building had automatic locking doors, students reportedly often kept them open by placing things like pizza boxes in the doorways.

Henry was able to enter the dorm and make his way to the third floor.

According to the case, he walked along the hallway trying different door handles until he found one that was unlocked.

That door belonged to Jeanne.

She woke up and discovered him inside her room during a burglary.

Henry then violently attacked Jeanne.

She was beaten, cut, sexually assaulted, and strangled.

Jeanne died inside the dorm room.

Afterward, Henry reportedly told friends what he had done.

Those friends contacted police and provided information that helped investigators identify him.

Henry was eventually arrested and prosecuted.

In 1987, he was convicted on eight criminal counts and sentenced to death.

Years later, the legal situation changed.

In 2002, Henry agreed to give up his remaining appeals in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He has remained incarcerated in Pennsylvania.

But Jeanne's story did not end with the criminal conviction.

Her parents, Howard and Connie Clery, later filed a lawsuit against Lehigh University.

During the legal discovery process, the family learned information about campus safety that deeply disturbed them.

Records showed that during the three years before Jeanne was killed, 38 violent crimes had been reported on or around the Lehigh University campus.

Jeanne's parents said students and families had not been properly informed about the extent of those crimes.

The records also reportedly showed 181 unresolved reports involving security doors being left or propped open.

For Howard and Connie, those details raised serious questions about whether students were being given enough information to protect themselves.

After losing their daughter, they spent the next several years pushing for stronger campus safety laws.

For about four years, the Clery family worked with lawmakers and advocated for colleges to be more open about crimes happening on their campuses.

Their efforts eventually helped lead to federal legislation.

In 1990, the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act was signed into law.

The law was later renamed the Jeanne Clery Act in honor of Jeanne.

Today, colleges and universities in the United States that participate in federal student financial aid programs are required to follow the law.

Schools must publish information about certain crimes occurring on or near campus.

They must also maintain a daily crime log and issue warnings when there is an ongoing or serious threat to students and staff.

Jeanne Clery was only 19 years old when she was killed.

Her death devastated her family, but their fight for greater transparency changed how colleges across the United States report campus crime.

What happened in one dorm room in Pennsylvania eventually became the reason millions of college students now have access to information about safety and crime on their campuses.

Suggested Quora Topics: Jeanne Clery, Clery Act, Campus Safety, Lehigh University, College Crime, True Crime, Student Safety, Pennsylvania Crime, U.S. Law, Campus Security