MURRAY, Ky. — Gail Minger became a college campus safety activist. Lana Phelps never finished the college degree she started. Mike Ward lost his bid for re-election as prosecutor.

        The Sept. 18, 1998, Hester Hall dormitory fire at Murray State University killed one student — Ms. Minger's son, Michael — seriously injured another and altered many lives.

        At a trial that begins today, a jury will decide whether Jerry Wayne Walker, now 25, was responsible.

        A part-time minister and a member of a campus security unit at the time of his arrest nearly nine months after the fire, Mr. Walker faces charges of murder, arson and assault.

        The case has been full of twists from the beginning, with authorities arresting other students before even tually charging Mr. Walker.

        The death of Michael Minger, a 19-year-old sophomore studying music and journalism, was “probably the most horrific thing in our lives,” said Gail Minger, of Niceville, Fla.

        Things since then haven't been much easier.

        “Dealing with the system has been pretty cruel,” Ms. Minger said, referring to the criminal case and a lawsuit she filed against officials at the 9,000-student university.

        The blaze started at 2:30 a.m. on the fourth floor of Hester Hall, sending many of the dorm's 300 residents scrambling for safety in their nightclothes.

        Firefighters rescued several students — including Mr. Walker — from windows of the eight-story building. Mr. Minger died from smoke inhalation. Michael Priddy, of Paducah, was crit ically injured and other students suffered less serious injuries.

        Five days earlier, a fire had started in the same dorm area. It was also ruled an arson, but nearly three years later no one has been charged.

        Shortly after the second blaze, Ms. Phelps, now 23, and six others with ties to the university rugby club were charged with setting or helping to plan the fire.

        Phone records showed prank calls were made from a house where three rugby club players lived to a freshman member's room at Hester Hall hours before the fire. The prank calls alleged a fire in the dorm.

        At the time of the arrests, Mr. Ward called it a “sorry prank that went bad.”

        The defendants said it was a coincidence the prank calls were made the night of the fire. Three months later, felony charges against all were dropped after Mr. Ward told a judge there was a new suspect.

        “I think of all the things I could've done in the last two years,” Ms. Phelps said recently. “I could've been done with school. ... Life's been full of tornadoes since it happened.”

        Ms. Phelps spent 12 days in jail after her arrest. After she was exonerated, she returned to Murray State two semesters. But she never felt comfortable afterward, and each time she dropped out.

        She lives in nearby Benton, and is expecting twins.

        Occasionally, Ms. Phelps runs into some of the others who were arrested with her. “As far as I know, they're all living their lives just fine,” she said.

        After dropping the felony counts, Mr. Ward, then the county prosecutor, sought misdemeanor charges against four of the seven original defendants — not including Ms. Phelps — for making prank phone calls.

        That following spring, Mr. Ward lost his bid for re-election in the Democratic primary to Gale Cook, who became prosecutor.

        For the Walker trial, James Wethington was appointed special prosecutor aftera judge ruled that Mr. Walker's attorney could subpoena Mr. Ward as a potential witness.

        Mr. Walker, a senior at the time of the fire, did not graduate from Murray State.

        Richard Null, one of Mr. Walker's attorneys, declined to say what life has been like for Mr. Walker since his arrest or where he has been living.

        Evidence that may be presented in trial includes three letters allegedly written by Mr. Walker — including one he allegedly left on his own car. One of the letters was written to Mr. Priddy and the second to another dorm resident, court records said.

        The letter on Mr. Walker's car prompted authorities to begin investigating him, Mr. Ward has said. Mr. Ward did not return messages seeking comment.

        Citing pending litigation, Murray State officials would not comment on the case.

        Gail Minger, who lobbied in the 2000 General Assembly for a bill requiring Kentucky colleges to keep a log of campus crime, has been subpoenaed to testify.

        “It will resolve one part in our desire to bring justice and accountability to Michael's death,” she said of the trial. “There will never be closure.”

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