Feb 03, 2016 12:40 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Officials in Blacksburg, Va. are treating details in Nicole Lovell's murder case with the utmost sensitivity, but new information gives some insight to her relationship with her killer.

Police first charged David Eisenhauer, an 18-year-old first-year engineering student at Virginia Tech, with first-degree murder and abduction. The Blacksburg Police stated he "used his relationship" to carry out the act, though they never disclosed the precise nature of the relationship.

Stacy Snider, a neighbor to the 13-year-old victim's family, told The Associated Press Lovell mentioned having a "boyfriend." Snider said her daughters told her Lovell showed them a picture of a boy named David, who was 18 and in college.

Lovell apparently used the messaging app Kik, and the company actively helped investigators target Eisenhauer in their search. But after his arrest Saturday, police arrested Natalie Keepers, also a first-year engineering student at Virginia Tech.

At a news conference Tuesday, Montgomery County Commonwealth Attorney Mary Pettitt stated a preliminary examination indicated Lovell died of stabbing, WDBJ reported. Authorities have not given any further details on that front, but stated Keepers would face additional charges.

She was initially charged with aiding Eisenhauer after the murder by disposing the body, but Pettitt announced Keepers would be charged with being an accessory "before the fact." True to form, authorities did not elaborate, indicating they were still working on the details of the case.

"Local, state, and federal investigators assigned to the case continue to make progress with reconstructing the timeline of those two individuals' movements and activities leading up to Nicole's abduction and murder," Blacksburg Police Chief Anthony Wilson said in a statement obtained by WDBJ.

Both Eisenhauer and Keepers face a maximum sentence of life in prison, if convicted.

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