Slush Pile: college freshmen electrocutes self

2007 Slush Pile

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college freshmen electrocutes self

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Body in Purdue dorm's utility room ID'd

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A body found slumped over machinery in a dormitory's high-voltage utility room was identified Tuesday as a 19-year-old Purdue University student who vanished in January, school officials said. ADVERTISEMENT

A maintenance worker investigating a "pinging" sound on Monday discovered the body of Wade Steffey, a freshman who was last seen in the area Jan. 13 after he left a fraternity party. The Tippecanoe County coroner identified the body Tuesday.

It appeared he tripped and fell onto a power transformer, Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said.

"He is believed to have died instantly," she said.

The maintenance worker had unlocked the utility room from inside the Owen Hall on Monday, Norberg said. Afterward, police discovered that the room's exterior door was closed but that it was unlocked, she said. Officials had said Monday that the ground-level utility room wasn't accessible from Owen Hall and was locked with two sets of keys, one each for two sets of doors.

Officials have removed the exterior door's lock assembly for a forensic examination to determine whether the mechanism works. Norberg said Purdue will conduct an independent investigation to "to find out all we can about this accident occurred."

"We're going to find out. The search for Wade Steffey is over but the search for answers continues," Norberg said.

Steffey's father, Dale, said he was confident Purdue would thoroughly investigate.

"That door should be locked, absolutely," he said.

The area around Owen Hall had been repeatedly searched after Steffey was reported missing, and maintenance staff had opened the utility room, but Norberg said they didn't fully inspect the interior because of the risk posed by the high-voltage equipment.

Power was cut to the coed residence hall that houses about 700 students while the body was removed.

"We have the answer now, the big answer, to where our son is," said Steffey's mother, Dawn Adams, who said she and her husband had felt before the body's discovery that their son was dead.

"Now everyone who was praying for us can have a measure of peace," she said. "This affects so many more people than us. Now there is grief."

Campus officials had organized several searches for Steffey, the most recent a ground search in the area on Sunday. Anna Hirst, an area resident who helped with the searches, described the community's emotion on hearing the news.

"It's absolutely devastating," she said.

Submitted on 03/20/2007

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070320/ap_on_re_us/purdue_body_found

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Maybe Toss: Not Amusing
I saw another news story about this earlier today so I knew it would be showing up here. The one I saw indicated that Wade may have been trying to get back into the building late at night, possibly to retrieve his coat. It sounds like he just made an unfortunate mistake in trying to enter through an unlocked door that turned out to be the utility room. In the darkness at night, going through an unlocked door that should have been locked, this sounds like nothing more than a tragic accident. Thanks for the submission though.

James said:
Definitely Toss: Not Amusing
I have to concur with Bruce here. There's no indication that any egregious stupidity was at play here, though this incident does say something about alcohol use on campuses! Anyway, this is tragic rather than amusing, but we DO appreciate the submission just the same!

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college freshmen electrocutes self

2007 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

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2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

>> The Darwin Awards, by Wendy Northcutt <<
Link to Fight Evil.