Tragic findings

Colleges and Universities A-Z Purdue University
1

<p>Very tragid findings reported by local newspaper. I feel so sad for any family having to deal with this.....and for all Purdue students.</p>

<p>Purdue: Body found in Owen Hall won't be identified today</p>

<p>
[quote]
**A body found this afternoon in a utility room at Purdue University?s Owen Hall will not be officially identified until Tuesday, a Purdue spokeswoman said this afternoon.</p>

<p>Police, the Tippecanoe County coroner and university utility workers were called to Owen Hall at noon today after the body was found.</p>

<p>Jeanne Norberg, Purdue spokeswoman, said the body was found in a utility area in the hall on campus.</p>

<p>Norberg didn?t release identification information for the body, including gender, age or other identifying details.</p>

<p>Owen Hall was one of the last places Wade Steffey, a missing Purdue freshman, was seen before he disappeared just after midnight Jan. 13.</p>

<p>Purdue officials say Steffey?s parents have been called and are coming to the West Lafayette campus.</p>

<p>Norberg said the high voltage utility room is normally locked. The staff at Owen Hall would not have access to room, Norberg said, so the room might have been missed during a series of searches for Steffey in the past two months.</p>

<p>Norberg said she wasn?t sure when the last time someone had been in the room.</p>

<p>There is an entrance to the room from the outside of the building. There is an internal entrance to the room, too. Norberg said both doors are supposed to be locked at all time.</p>

<p>Norberg said someone in Owen Hall today heard a ?ping? coming from the room, giving indication that something wasn?t working properly. When a utility worker came to check it out, she discovered the body.</p>

<p>The body was found in a dangerous area in the room. Before police and others went in to retrieve the body, they had to cut off the power to Owen Hall.</p>

<p>Norberg didn?t say whether the body had been burned or whether it had appeared that the body had been in the room for some time.

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<p><a href="http://www.purdueexponent.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.purdueexponent.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.wadesteffey.net/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wadesteffey.net/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>Thanks for posting; I had not seen this. I guess we'll know more tomorrow. So very sad.</p>

3

<p>It was Wade Steffey that they found. It's so very tragic and I wonder how he got in there if the utility room was locked. Here's a link. The police just had a press conference but it wasn't covered nationally. Fox News did have a short segment before the news was announced.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/11305680/detail.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.theindychannel.com/news/11305680/detail.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>Apparently the door wasn't locked he entered from outside.....he was instantly electrocuted. What an awful and hard to understand event.<br>
<a href="http://www.purdueexponent.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.purdueexponent.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I know this is a "back" entrance but why and how is the question. This entry was below grade. No markings on the door indicating danger or high voltage danger. I cannot imagine the anger his parents are feeling.</p>

5

<p>Yikes ! Thats terrible. May his soul rest in peace.</p>

6

<p>I have been following this story from day one. Very sad indeed. My prayers are with the family.</p>

7

<p>It is indeed a tragic finding. Strength to all affected.</p>