Rooney (born June 27, 1970) is a former construction worker who was convicted of the abduction and murder of 21-year-old college student Michelle Gardner-Quinn, a senior at the University of Vermont, located in Burlington, Vermont.
Gardner-Quinn's body was found on October 13, 2006 at the Huntington Gorge in Richmond, stuffed into a rock crevice and covered with leaves.
An autopsy revealed that she had been sexually assaulted; cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head.
Rooney was charged with Gardner-Quinn's murder on October 25, 2006 when DNA evidence linked him to her.