According to many eyewitnesses, Bates studied in the library until the standard closing time of 9:00 p.m. True Crime: Unsolved Crimes p. 5 A subsequent witness statement obtained from a female RCC student given to investigators would claim that a young man whose age she estimated to be either 19 or 20 years old and approximately 5 ft 11 in ( 71 inches ) in height had been lurking in shadows across the street from Bates's vehicle and had been staring in the direction of her car at around the standard closing time of the library.