As her family mourns her death, friends of a college freshman who police say was beaten to death in her dorm room by her boyfriend have urged people to wear purple to raise awareness of domestic violence.

Alexandra Kogut's body was found shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday at the State University of New York College at Brockport, 15 miles west of Rochester. Her boyfriend, 21-year-old Clayton Whittemore, was arrested at a rest stop near Syracuse, 100 miles east, about an hour later.

Whittemore pleaded not guilty over the weekend to a murder charge and is being held without bail in Monroe County Jail.

Kogut's family released a statement saying she was "a bright, beautiful young woman who was thrilled to be beginning her college education."