Former ASU running back charged with murder of teammate

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Former Arizona State running back Loren Wade was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the shooting of another former Sun Devils player.\nThe 21-year-old Wade has been held without bond since Saturday, when he was arrested at the slaying site outside a Scottsdale nightspot. Witnesses say they saw him approach the car of Brandon Falkner, and exchange words with Falkner before a single gunshot rang out.\nFalkner, 25, was killed by a bullet to the head.\nBefore Wade was charged Tuesday, Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter said at a news conference he had been concerned by Wade's behavior since September, but never interpreted any of it as cause for alarm.\n"I did not connect that dot," Koetter said. "I missed it."\nKoetter said Wade made verbal threats against two female athletes and was involved in two other incidents on which the coach declined to elaborate.\n"In retrospect, it's an easy decision," athletic director Gene Smith said about whether Wade belonged on the team.\nWade's girlfriend, former Arizona State soccer player Haley von Blommestein, is one of two women who felt Wade threatened them.\nThe other was gymnast Trisha Dixon, who told John Spini, her coach, that Wade was enraged at her because she told a friend she saw Wade with another woman, and word got back to von Blommestein and Wade, who were living in Los Angeles.\nIn a phone call on Nov. 24, Wade allegedly warned Dixon to stay out of his business.\n"There was no gun involved in that threat," Spini said. "But she was afraid for her life, she said. 'Just don't be walking alone.' To me, that's a threat."\nSpini said Dixon asked him not to get the police involved, and the incident blew over after Wade apologized to both of them.\nWade set a school freshman rushing record in 2003, but played only three games last year before he was suspended for the season for receiving improper benefits involving an overdue utility bill.\nEven earlier, Wade was troubled. He told Koetter in September that was wanted to give up football out of fear of getting hurt.\n"I've never had a player tell me that," said Koetter, who sent Wade to a counselor. Koetter theorized that Wade was feeling guilty about the improper-benefits scandal, which involved the firing of a school compliance officer for using her line of credit to pay his utility bill.\nAt some point after Wade's suspension, he broke off the counseling sessions.