Kentucky student found ‘not breathing’ for 23 minutes in dorm room breaks silence as cops still can’t explain what happened: ‘I believe God saved me’

The Kentucky college student who was found mysteriously injured and unable to breathe on her own in her dorm room believes she survived the ordeal to raise awareness for the school’s lackluster protection of its students.

Isabella Willingham, 21, a now former student at Asbury University, told NBC News Monday that neither she nor police pieced together what happened when her roommate found her unresponsive in their room with deep lacerations and bruising in November.

“I believe God spared me because my mission is to now bring light to the safety issues on campus. The students definitely need way more protection than they’re getting,” Willingham told the outlet.

“I want what happened to me to draw attention to the fact that Asbury needs more cameras on all of their exits and entryways.”

Willingham told the outlet she couldn’t remember what happened to her on Nov. 27 — and the injuries were severe enough that it left her memory fragmented from most of her past semester at the university — but believes she never left her dorm room the day of the incident.

Willingham’s room was located in Glide-Crawford Residence Hall, an all-female dormitory with strict rules about men entering the building, and all visits from males were documented.

A rape kit and toxicology report from that night show that Willingham was not sexually assaulted and “found nothing of concern,” the outlet reported.

The former student said it could have been “a group” that would easily be allowed to roam the building without being questioned as she narrowed down who it could have been if she was attacked.

“It was probably a group of girls. I barely talked to anyone. I knew like three people on campus. Like, I never left my room,” she said. “I just feel like it was girls because I only knew girls.”

The 21-year-old felt “violated” over Asbury’s slow response and did not intend to return to school.

“I don’t want to go back unless the person, whoever did this, is caught,” Willingham said.

“All I can do with this is to try to expose what the school is doing and to try to protect other people on campus.”

While the incident baffled Willingham and her family, police also changed their tune about what may have happened to the young college student that night.

The Jessamine County Sherif had claimed Willingham’s injuries were most likely due to her falling out of her bunk bed or a medical episode, but those theories have been put to rest by the department.

Sheriff Kevin Grimes told the outlet Monday that a person from his office “spoke out of turn” and they are taking the investigation seriously.

“It’s 100% baffling what happened to this young lady,” Grimes said. “In some way, shape, form or fashion, she’s a victim just like anybody else. … We 100% believe something happened; we just don’t know what.”

His department has since spent hundreds of hours trying to piece together what happened that night, reviewing hours of camera footage and speaking with dorm residents, but the lack of evidence and the fact that no one has come forward to report anything has made it a serious challenge.

Grimes also shared that when his officers got called that night, it was reported as a potential overdose.

However, when Willingham arrived at the hospital, they were called back because of the injuries found on the lower half of her body — something his deputies did not see when they arrived on campus because she was covered.

“The one thing that we have going against us was that we did not get notified to the injuries to her legs until probably five or six hours later. … I can say we were behind the eight ball when it comes to the injury side of it,” Grimes told the outlet.

Nevertheless, Willingham expressed great gratitude for the first responders who helped her that night.

“I survived my attack, and I’m so thankful for the first responders who didn’t give up on me. I’m alive because of that,” she told the outlet.

Asbury University said in a statement last week that its “priority remains the safety and wellbeing of its students, faculty, and staff” and that all future questions should be directed to the sheriff’s office.

At a meeting held at Glide-Crawford dorm Sunday night, Willingham and her mother, Jennifer Willingham, and more than 100 others were told by Asbury President Kevin Brown that there was no threat to students on campus.

Brown had told the concerned attendees that the sheriff’s office “publicly confirmed that. I want to share that with you and I want to reiterate that,” according to a recording of the meeting the family provided to NBC News.

“It was like Bella was being the perpetrator. Bella was the victim who became villainized,” Jennifer Willingham said.

“If they believed my daughter was attacked, they would for sure say, ‘Guys, there’s somebody on this campus. We need to find out who did this.’”