The fatal explosion at an energy plant Sunday is the latest among the violent events of the last year that have thrust Middletown into an uncomfortable glare.

The university says the man it hired to manage its money spent more time on his own, but his lawyer says the school never lost a dime.

Inmates’ access to higher education was sharply crimped by a 1994 crime bill that made them ineligible for federal grants. But last spring, two Wesleyan University students persuaded the university to embark on a daring experiment that brings an elite college education inside a high-security prison.

The idea of “Emergency Response Studio” was inspired in part by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. At Wesleyan University, a gutted and redesigned trailer is an art project that marries the whimsical with the practical.

Stephen P. Morgan, who is thought to have killed Johanna Justin-Jinich, a student at the college, was in custody on Thursday.

Wesleyan University’s campus was eerily quiet on Thursday while a manhunt continued for Stephen Morgan, the man suspected of killing Johanna Justin-Jinich, a student, on Wednesday.

Stephen P. Morgan, who shot and killed Johanna Justin-Jinich, was still missing Thursday, the object of a nationwide alert with a $10,000 reward and a manhunt that focused on Middletown, Conn.

A man suspected of fatally shooting a student is still at large and could be targeting the university, police said.

A man suspected of fatally shooting a student is still at large and could be targeting the university, police said.

Johanna Justin-Jinich was killed at her job at the Red and Black Cafe on the outskirts of the campus in Middletown, Conn.