A 24-year-old honor student from Olivet College in central Michigan has confessed to police in Florence, Italy, for the murder of man there, WILX television in Michigan reports.

According to a statement published on the college website, Johnathan Hindenach is a junior art major who had just transferred to Olivet at the beginning of the spring semester, and who was traveling with seven other students and a professor throughout Italy on a 16-day class trip.

The lead investigator in Italy on the case has told the Associated Press that Hindenach ran out of a hotel in Florence on Wednesday night where the group was staying, saying that the other students wanted to kill him. The investigator, Filippo Ferri, also told the Associated Press that Hindenach suffers from psychological problems and that he had consumed alcohol and taken drugs before killing Riccardo Nistri, 62, on Thursday. Police arrested Hindenach on Thursday near the storefront where they discovered Nistri's body.

In an unrelated case, Amanda Knox, an American college student, is on trial in Perugia, Italy, for the 2007 killing of her roommate while she was taking part in an exchange program.

In the Hindenach case, The Olivet College statement indicates the school is working with Rep. Mark Schauer, R-Mich., and the American consulate in Italy to resolve the matter.

(Photo by Lorenzo Galassi, AP)