Ioan Petru Culianu Assassinated at University of Chicago in 1991

Ioan Petru Culianu, a 41-year-old professor of history of religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, was murdered on May 21, 1991, in a university restroom under circumstances suggesting a professional execution. Culianu, a Romanian exile who had lived in Italy before moving to the United States, was a brilliant scholar fascinated by symbolism, mystery, magic, eros, and occultism. He was a student of Mircea Eliade, the renowned historian of religions and prolific writer, with whom he shared a Romanian origin, exile status, and an elective affinity. Eliade had died in 1986 at age 79. Culianu's death remains a painful and well-known story that transcended academic and cultural circles internationally.