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Obviously anything on hatrack would be a long shot, but the goal is to get this everywhere. There has been a Purdue freshman missing for over a week with very little evidence. Hundreds of people have searched the whole campus and thousands have come out on facebook to help the search. Here is a fairly good account
This is someone I went to high school with, I don't really know him personally but I do know many of his friends and am very concerned. Thanks Hatrack for just looking.
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I can't help with the finding (live on wrong side of the world) but I'll be thinking happy thoughts. I hope he's just gone off for some time on his own, though, and that he shows up when he's ready. Best case scenario.
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
That is the best case, and no one thinks it is the case, to leave without his cell charger or his computer (or even the shoes he likes) let alone without a coat.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm hoping everything turns out well, but he's been missing for so many days now. I'm glad the whole community is turning out to do what it can in finding him.
Posts: 291 | Registered: Jun 2002
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It was him. The body was found in a (supposedly) double locked room with high voltage electrical equipment. It has been ruled an accident that he just found a door he could get in somehow trying to get into the main part of the building to get to his coat. He tripped and was electrecuted instantly.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm so sorry for the loss. A good friend of mine goes to Purdue. He hasn't been talking to anyone, really- he's still a bit shocked about this whole thing.
Personally, this leaves too many unanswered questions. Call me paranoid, but I think there's more to it. A high voltage room, that should have been double locked, with open electric wires that could kill someone, and he just happens to trip and fall? It doesn't sit right with me.
Posts: 1591 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The only thing I'm seeing wrong is that it was open. I do think it's very very possible he would go in. I do think tripping is a possibility, and also the other door, on the inside, ot the building, was not unlocked. So the exterior lock being open is the only thing I see wrong.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Keep in mind that we don't necessarily know the room was unlocked. Every university has a series of maintenance tunnels under it. College students have too much energy, too much time, too much intelligence, and not enough common sense. If there is a room they shouldn't go into, there will certainly be someone who will find a way to get in there.
There was a rumor that students at my college were using the maintenance tunnels for a real-life game of Dungeons and Dragons. I believe a book was even written about it, and it was later made into a TV movie. Though no one died at our college as they did in the movie.
It is possible that this student saw the door an decided to go exploring. He then found a way to pick the lock, which really isn't that hard unless the locks are secure Dead Bolts. I've opened secure standard latches, not dead bolts, with a credit card and a pocket knife (you need both).
Though I do agree with some of the comments to the news articles that said the doors should have been labeled 'High Voltage' so that a clear and present danger would be know to everyone. I'm not saying the doors weren't labeled, only that they certainly should have been.
Right now, from what I can tell, people are assuming these doors were unlocked.
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The door was not labeled and was not locked yesterday. It is possible that it was locked when he went in there, but I think it is more likely it was not, I don't think he would have taken that much time, he could have messed with the main entrance to the dorm more. That is if the theory that it was so he could get to his coat that was in the building is true.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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There's also the issue of falling on a piece of equipment and being instantly electrocuted. Normally equipment like that is covered somehow so that someone working there can't just brush into it and get shocked. I'd think especially at a place like Purdue that'd be the case. The fact that there's stuff in that room that isn't covered is kinda a huge problem, regardless of whether or not it really was an accident that killed him.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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In the video on msnbc, they say that somehow (I know very little of electricity or science) he formed a triangle including his finger hitting something else, not just simply a fall issue.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Definately creepy, a friend of mine told me about the find last night (since we had both roomed in Owen for our first 2 years there). I will say the unlocked door doesn't really suprise me, nor does the general nature of the accident:
Kid is stumbling around late at night (potentially drunk since he was coming back from a frat party) and can't get into the normal entrance (either because he's hiding that he's been drinking or he forgot his ID) so he walks around to the loading dock and starts trying doors.
the loading dock-areas at the dorms and on campus are frequently not secured (whether they should be or not is another matter) and especially if work had been done recently there are even better chances. And seeing as it's winter, there's even better chances that someone just forgot to lock it in their haste to get in out of the cold whenever it was last accessed.
As to the instant death by electrocution, I still find it somewhat suspect, but I also read that they had actually done a cursory examination of this room during earlier searches, but didn't examine in detail because of the dangerousness of the layout. Any kind of dangerous electronics probably should be carefully blocked off from casual access, but these are pretty old buildings, and the access might actually be completely legitimate and just unfortunate in this case. There are plenty of maintenance facilities and the like that are safe if you're paying attention but quite dangerous if it's dark, you're drunk or tired etc...
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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