MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The University of Wisconsin student who found his murdered fiancee may not be able to get out of his lease of the apartment flat.

Russ Endres, owner of Wisconsin Management Co., declined to say if Jordan Gonnering would be forced to fulfill the final 16 months of his lease. Gonnering found his 21-year-old fiancee, Brittany Zimmerman, murdered on April 2 and Madison police are still looking for her killer.

"It's not appropriate for us to discuss the situation with members of the media or anyone else from the outside," Endres said. "This is an awful thing for him -- terrible -- and I wouldn't expect he'd be talking to us yet."

But UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam said her office has been unsuccessful in convincing Wisconsin Management to allow Gonnering to break the lease on the lower half of a small, two-story blue house south of campus.

Berquam said Gonnering said he's willing to live in another one of the company's properties until his lease runs out in August 2009 -- just not the one where his fiancee was murdered.

"He doesn't want to return to that apartment, and he doesn't want to be responsible for the financial burden of upholding that lease," Berquam said. "He's a poor college student."

Endres said he'll work personally with Gonnering and hopefully find a solution "that we can all live with."

But Berquam said her staff has made it clear to Wisconsin Management that they are authorized to represent the UW-Madison student, and Endres has been slow to listen to them.

"That's our job, " Berquam said. "Our role is to ... create a web of support for the students so they can do what they need to do in a situation like this. In Jordan's case, to grieve."

Under Wisconsin law, renters are responsible for fulfilling the terms of their lease -- even after death. Endres said his company must treat its thousands of renters fairly and equally.

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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)