03/27/10: Missing La Crosse student found safe

Reprinted from the GazetteXtra:

Police say intoxicated missing UW-L student found in car after search

By MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE Saturday, March 27, 2010 - 9 p.m.

Mar. 27--La Crosse police searched for more than five hours today before they found a missing 22-year-old University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student who had been last seen at 1 a.m. leaving the State Room bar downtown.

A police officer found Justin Hoard, of 302 N. 10th St., asleep in a car in a parking lot at 1003 Zeisler St. at about 9 a.m. Police said he had vomited outside the car and crawled into it to sleep.

He was awakened and submitted to a preliminary breath test that showed his blood-alcohol level to be about 0.09 percent. Based on that result at 9 a.m., his level at the time he left the bar would have been 0.21 percent, police said. The legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent.

Hoard told officers he had been drinking at a number of bars before going to the State Room, and did not remember going there. He left to walk home, became disoriented and could not find his residence, police said. Police started searching for him after receiving a missing-person report about 3:20 a.m.

Hoard was cited for disorderly conduct and also received a public intoxication warning, which requires him to attend a class.

In a press release, Police Chief Edward Kondracki said he wished Hoard could be charged with more because his drunken behavior had a huge negative impact on family, friends and the community.

Police called in three off-duty detectives and held over some third-shift personnel to help search for Hoard.

03/02/10: Jonathan Dorey, 22, Richmond, VA

Jonathan Dorey is missing.

Jonathan "Jonny" Dorey, an exchange student attending Virginia Commonwealth University was last seen March 2 leaving his campus dormitory at the Gladding Residence Center with his mountain bike at 11:19 a.m. Since then, neither Dorey or his mountain bike has been seen.

It appears that the last class Dorey attended was Tuesday morning (3/2), and he last used his cell phone that morning. The phone is apparently turned off.

The last purchase he is known to have made also was Tuesday morning at a 7-Eleven.

VCU police Capt. Grant Warren said, "We wish we had more to go on."

Dorey, who is from Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel, attends Great Britain's University of the West of England and was on an exchange to VCU. He was studying geography.

Dorey was reported missing on March 4 by friends. His friends and family say it is out of character fot he young man to leave without telling anyone where he was going.

Police said they do not suspect foul play.


The Search for Jonathan Dorey

During the search for Dorey, University police have worked with Richmond police, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the American Red Cross.

Dorey has been described as an experienced mountain biker. Search efforts have focused on bicycle trails near the James River in Richmond.
On March 16, VCU Police released photos captured by a security camera on March 2 outside of Gladding Residence Center. The surveillance cameras show Dorey leaving the lobby of his dorm with his bicycle.

Dorey's bike is a black single-speed bicycle with an Azonic Steelhead frame, an SDG Bel-Air seat, Race Face lock-on grips, DMR V8 pedals and Kenda tires. It has a black seat with a red stripe down the middle.

Dorey is 6 feet tall, weighs 180 pounds, has brown hair and speaks with a British accent. He was last seen wearing a blue and white plaid jacket with a hood and dark blue jeans. Dorey wears glasses. He was carrying a navy blue Eastpak ruckpak.

VCU and the University of the West of England, Dorey's home university, are offering a combined $10,000 reward for any information leading to Dorey's location.


Belongings found

On March 23, Dorey's backback containing some personal belongings was found near his clothes at Rockett's Landing near Dock and Pear Streets. The items were found by a passerby. The following month, Dorey's parents made the announcement that an empty bottle of gin had also been found at the site.

The area is a popular fishing spot, and the items were reportedly in a hollow area under a large concrete pad beside the north bank of the river. After the discovery, Richmond rescue dive teams searched the nearby James River until 5:30 p.m. and again the following day.

Dorey's parents, Alan and Debbie Dorey, and his brother Simon have flown to the US to help in the search. A Facebook group has also been created to appeal for information; at last count it had 24,635 members.

In April 2010, a witness came forward to say he believed he saw a man fitting Jonny's description swimming in the river on the afternoon Jonny went missing. According to the Charley Project, the weather that day was rainy and mixed with snow.

In September 2011, Dorey's parents planted a tree on the VCU campus in their son's memory. They have stated that they believe he was depressed and committed suicide by drinking a bottle of gin and jumping into the James River.

"Combined with information we got from the Internet sites and writings that we found by the FBI on Jonny's computer - leads us to believe that Jonny died of a suicide or a reckless act as the result of a mental breakdown..." said Debbie Dorey during a brief news conference outside of Harris Hall.
On March 3, 2011, after the one-year anniversary of Dorey's disappearance, a spokesman for VCU Police told NBC12.com that the investigation is still open.

Anyone with information about Jonathan Dorey should contact VCU Police Communications at (804) 828-1196.


Facts in this Case:
Name/age: Jonathan "Jonny" Dorey, 22
Hometown: Guernsey, Great Britain
Residence: Richmond, VA
College: Dorey was an exchange student at Virginia Commonwealth University. He had previously been attending the University of the West of England.
Last seen: 3/2/10, 11:19 a.m., Gladding Residence Center dormitory
Physical Description: 6'0", 180 pounds, brown hair, green eyes. Speaks with a British accent. Last seen wearing: blue and white plaid jacket with hood, dark blue skinny jeans, black shoes. Dorey wears glasses.
Notes: Jonathan Dorey's bike is also missing. It is a black single-speed bicycle with an Azonic Steelhead frame, an SDG Bel-Air seat, Race Face lock-on grips, DMR V8 pedals and Kenda tires. It has a black seat with a red stripe down the middle.
Links: Project Jason, Charley Project
Investigating Agency: VCU Police (804) 828-6409


Originally Posted 3/25/10. Revised 3/16/11.

03/21/10: Patrick Trainor, 19, Fishers, IN

Nineteen-year old Patrick Trainor, a freshman at Purdue University's School of Agriculture, spent spring break at his family's home on the south side of Indianapolis. On Saturday, March 20, he drove to a party in Fishers, IN, approximately 25 miles north of his home. Patrick's brother, Matt Trainor, told The Exponent that he believed that Patrick left the party to go to another party near 96th Street in the Geist Reservoir area, 10 minutes away.

The last time anyone heard from Trainor was via text message at 1:21 am March 21 in the 96th Street/Interstate 69 area. A second text message was sent around 3:40 a.m. in the 10900 block of Olio Road.

The Search for Patrick Trainor
Patrick's family became worried after not hearing from him, because the young man was known to communicate his location. He also frequently used his phone and sent text messages. He only had a limited amount of cash on him and there had been no activity on his bank account.

The day after he went missing, the Geist Reservoir was searched after the last known cell phone “ping” was detected in the area. Randy McFarland, public information officer for the Fishers Police Department, told The Exponent, "It’s hard to tell how big the general area of the cell phone ‘ping’ was,” he said. “We put sonar boats from the fire department (in the Reservoir) and they scoured the whole shore area.” Police say the search was a "precautionary measure" and there is no other reason to believe Trainor might be in the water. Police are also interviewing people in the area.

On March 23, a small retaining pond off of E 104th Street between Cyntheeann Road and Florida Road was searched by a dive team after tire tracks were seen appearing to go into the water. The area, which had plans to be developed, only had one house. It was in the vicinity of the party where Trainor was last seen. Nothing turned up, and police believed the tracks were left by the construction crew that installed the decorative fountain.

On March 24, police announced that Patrick Trainor's electric green Ford Mustang was found at the bottom of a retention pond near 116th Street and Brooks School Road in the private gated community of Breakwater. Sadly, the body of Patrick Trainor was found in the vehicle. The pond is located about 2 miles northwest from the 10900 block of Olio Road, the location of the last ping from Trainor's cell phone. It was reported that the Olio Road area had previously been searched.

Patrick Trainor's father, Dr. Don Trainor, read a prepared statement the following day, "Obviously the outcome was not what we were hoping for, but these efforts led to his discovery and some closure for us. The outpouring of support has been incredible and we appreciate all of the kind words and prayers from everyone...[Patrick] was an awesome son, brother, and friend who was always willing to go the extra mile for a stranger, friend or family."

Investigation
At a press conference, Randy McFarland of the Fishers police said surveillance video at the entrance of the neighborhood showed Trainor's vehicle entering the gated community but never leaving. A preliminary autopsy showed drowning to be the cause of death. According to Wishtv.com, "officers found light tire tracks in the grass near the retention pond, and noticed some scratches on rocks near the pond."

On March 25, the Hamilton County coroner said the preliminary cause of death was drowning. On April 9, the Hamilton County coroner’s toxicology report was released showing that Trainor's blood alcohol content level was 0.19% which is more than twice the legal limit for driving in the state of Indiana. He also had marijuana present in his urine. The coroner ruled the final cause of death to be drowning and the manner of death accidental.

About Patrick Trainor
Patrick Trainor was an animal sciences major with dreams of becoming a veterinarian. He had recently joined Purdue’s chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He reportedly had a lot of friends and no known enemies or trouble with drugs or alcohol. Prior to college, he graduated from Cathedral High School. “He was an awesome son,” Patrick's father Don told the media during a press conference. He “was always willing to go the extra mile.” He had three older brothers.

On March 26, 2010, more than 500 friends and family members gathered at Cathedral High school for a visitation for Patrick Trainor. A second service was held the following day at 9 am, followed by a Mass. The family requested any donations be made to the Indianapolis Humane Society.

Quick Facts:
Name/age: Patrick Trainor, Fishers, IN
College: Purdue University (freshman)
Major: Animal Sciences
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
Last seen: 3/21/10, last cell phone contact near 10900 block of Olio Road in Fishers, IN.
Recovered: 3/24/10, retention pond in the gated Breakwater community in Fishers, IN in the Geist neighborhood.
Physical Description: 5'11, 140 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes, last seen wearing beige shorts or blue jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt and white tennis shoes and driving a two-door, dark green 1999 Ford Mustang with Indiana license plate 522ZVF. Trainor's car is very distinctive--electric green with spoiler, tinted side windows, Indiana plates, and dents on the left side. Trainor also had surgery recently.

If you have any information about Patrick Trainor, call the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's Missing Persons office at (317) 327-6613.

03/13/10: Greg Hart, 23, Providence, RI

On March 13, 2010, after getting a late start, Gregory Hart, 23, drove his Mustang from Dedham, MA, to the apartment of a friend in Providence, RI. There, he met up with three old college buddies--Will, Zach, and Zach's girlfriend--to celebrate his new job. By 10 p.m., the group was heading out to the Red Room Tavern at One Fox Place in Providence.

At 1:21 a.m., Hart spoke on the phone with Will, who was at the bar that night. The two spoke for 8 minutes, but it has not been reported what was said. It was the last time Hart's phone was used.

Friends say that around 1:40 p.m., Greg just got up and left the tavern without saying a word. Nothing unusual appeared to be going on, but Hart left the bar (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com, March 15, 2010).

Friends initially speculated that while they returned to their apartment, Hart may have gone to an International House of Pancakes (IHOP) on Promenade Street. But Hart's brother, JP, later told the Providence Journal that this wasn't likely. While he and his brother had indeed sometimes walked from the Red Room to the IHOP, it had been in the summer. Family members did not believe Greg would have walked to the pancake house in the rain, and there appears to be no indication that he did so. (Providence Journal).

Cell phone records indicate that, at some point, Hart's friend, Zach, tried calling Greg's phone (along with the police and local hospitals) to find out what happened to his friend.

Hart's family remained uneasy; Greg Hart's car was still parked outside the apartment building where he had left it, and his cell phone had not been answered.

By Sunday when he still hadn't returned for the St. Patrick's Day parade, they became "seriously worried" and they filed a missing person's report. (Boston.com.)


The Search for Greg Hart
Initially, police did not look for the missing University of Massachusetts-Amherst student.

When the police failed to search, family and friends of Greg Hart launched their own search effort. More than 50 people came to the aid of the Hart family, helping to look for Hart and/or post fliers around the area.

On Tuesday, March 16 at around 2:45 p.m., a family friend made a grim discovery just three-quarters of a mile from where Hart had last been seen. Hart's body was found washed up against a tree limb in the rain-swollen Woonasqatucket River in Providence, “half in and half out” of the water (ABC6.com). It was recovered by rescue crews from the Providence Fire Department.


Investigation
From the beginning, the Hart family expressed fears that foul play might be involved with Hart's death. Hart was a licensed and experienced scuba diver and very familiar with the water. There had also been reports that some type of disturbance or altercation had occurred at the bar on the night that Greg Hart disappeared.

"When a sudden death happens in an unusual place under unusual circumstances, it’s suspicious."
- Maj. Thomas F. Oates III, Providence Police Department

But an autopsy conducted by the Rhode Island Medical Examiner's office on March 17, indicated that Hart's death was a drowning and did not appear suspicious.

Yet, police said they would continue to investigate and treat the death as suspicious. "When a sudden death happens in an unusual place under unusual circumstances," said "Maj. Thomas F. Oates III, commander of the department’s investigative division, "it’s suspicious." (The Providence Journal, March 20, 2010).

On March 23, the medical examiner announced that Hart had been "highly intoxicated." The blood alcohol level was not released, but John Hart told the Providence Journal that investigators told him that his son's blood-alcohol level was more than .25. This is more than three times the legal limit of .08 for driving in Rhode Island. According to research by the paper, "most with levels between .21 and .29 would be subject to memory blackouts, staggering, double vision, loss of understanding of surroundings, poor judgment, impaired reactions and loss of balance."

Also at that time, police announced that they had found no evidence to suggest Hart had been involved in a fight. However, Hart's family said Hart's body had numerous injuries that suggested he had been in a fight, including: a broken cheekbone, jaw, eye socket, chipped tooth, cuts on his lips and knuckles, injuries to his palm and bruises on both legs in the same location. The family believes he was beaten up, possibly murdered.

Hart's father also said he believes a search should have been launched by the police after they heard about the possible disturbance at the bar.

The medical examiner addressed the family's concerns two days later, stating that any injuries found on Gregory Hart's body were caused after he drowned. His body had been in the fast- flowing Woonasquatucket River for an estimated 2-3 days. The Providence Police Department and the medical examiner maintained that there were no signs of foul play.


Private investigation by Hart family
The Hart family has hired an attorney to investigate the handling of the investigation. Police stand behind their investigation and say it was thorough, but the family has reported that the following areas are of particular concern:

Potential Conflict of Interest
Providence detective, Mark Sacco, who began investigating the case one day before Hart was found owns the property that the Red Room bar sits on. The bar itself is owned by Rebecca Caroll, the wife of Providence police detective, Shawn Carroll. The family of Greg Hart feels that this is a conflict of interest. In addition, there are no records of potential witnesses at the bar (e.g., bouncers, bartenders) ever having been interviewed by the police (ABC6.com).

Possible altercation at the bar
A police report, according to ABC6, says a disturbance of some kind (it is not known when or what type), occurred shortly before Greg disappeared. Hart's body had also suffered the type of injuries that may be indicative of a fight (broken facial bones, chipped tooth, cuts on lips and knuckles, bruising on palm and legs.) There were also two bruises in the same place on each leg, possibly caused by restraining Greg Hart.

Inconsistencies with police reports
The initial police incident report from March 14, states that police found Hart's cell phone and a house key in the bar’s parking lot. The report also states that police called his cellphone at that time and that it rang several times before going to voicemail. A police report two days later said that Hart's phone was found in the water along with Hart's partially submerged body and his driver's license.

Hart's Shattered iPhone
The police returned Hart's iPhone to the family in approximately 5 pieces. Officers told the family that even State Police experts were unable to retrieve any information from it because it had been in the water. However, technicians at AT&T told the Hart family that it had been taken apart in such a way that no information could be retrieved (ABC6.com).

Damaged indicator on iPhone

"This [phone] definitely wasn't in the water, definitely, 100 percent, this was not in the water."
- Alfred Demirjian, data recovery expert

The Hart family was able to take the phone to data recovery experts at TechFusion. The company found that the phone could not possibly have been in contact with water, as stated in the police report. The style of the Apple iPhone that Hart had is equipped with tiny indicators deep in the phone that signal whether the phone had been submerged in water or a liquid. According to Alexander Gessen, a data recovery expert at the company, Apple has installed these indicators in order to help determine whether the phone has been submerged or come into contact with a liquid that might void the warranty. Evidence indicates that the indicator on Hart's phone, something very difficult to remove, had been intentionally scratched off.

Alfred Demirjian, a data recovery expert at the company said, "This definitely wasn't in the water, definitely, 100 percent, this was not in the water." (Boston.com, 11/1/10).

Data Recovery from Cell Phone
TechFusion was also able to rebuild Hart's phone and compare the text messages and phone logs to AT&T's cell phone logs to authenticate them. The data included a log of the last 100 calls and the contents of the final 599 text messages, which indicate that the iPhone was not in the water. The family has declined to release the contents of the recovered data for fear of compromising any criminal case that may come from it.

Length of Time in Water
A white shirt returned to the family seems to be more river-stained than the shirt that Hart was wearing over it. The family has also said that the body itself was not as waterlogged as it should have been after 48 hours in the water.

About Greg Hart
Providence Police Lt. George Stamatakos described Hart as “a nice kid with a great family." Gregory Hart had just moved to Dedham, Massachusetts. He was a cum laude graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he had studied economics and tutored students, and had been accepted into an officer's program to be a Navy fighter pilot. Relatives attributed his success to his hard work in school after receiving below-average grades his freshman year in college. He had just landed a new job at Meditech in Westwood, MA--a job that would give him some real money for the first time, according to ABC6.com--and he was scheduled to begin work on Monday, March 15. He was not typically a late-night partier.

The news has devasted his family. "He's my heart. I can't even function. Nothing's important anymore," said his mother, Marianne Hart, told the Providence Journal. Hart’s father said his son was his “best friend.” Relatives say he was also kind and generous, spending much of last year caring for his mother during breast cancer treatment.

Greg Hart will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Facts:
Name/age: Greg Hart, 23
College: University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Last seen: 03/13/10, Red Room Tavern, One Fox Place, Providence, RI
Recovered: 03/16/10, Woonasqatucket River, Providence, RI
Residence: Dedham, MA
Physical Description: 5’8,” brown hair. He was last seen downtown Sunday morning wearing a grey leather biker jacket, a green hooded sweatshirt, black pants and black shoes.

03/12/10: Lei Deng, 26, Oswego, NY

Lei Deng has been found SAFE!!

Lei Deng, 26, was last seen around 8 a.m. Friday in Hart Hall on the State University of New York (SUNY)-Oswego campus in upstate New York near Lake Ontario. He had planned to go home to Queens for the weekend and had called home to "ensure his parents had his favorite foods," but then never showed up. At the time, police believe he may have taken a bus out of Syracuse to New York City, but no one had heard from him since 10:30 p.m. March 12.

On March 19, SUNY Oswego Police reported that Deng had been found safe and unharmed in New York City.

Police investigating third gorge death at Cornell University

The Ithaca Police Department is investigating the death of Cornell University engineering student Matthew Zika, who died near the suspension bridge over Fall Creek Gorge. According to the Cornell Daily Sun, "police first responded to Fall Creek Gorge at around 3:45 p.m. Friday afternoon [March 12.] The IPD temporarily closed the suspension bridge and the Stewart Avenue Bridge after a motorist reported seeing a man drop from the suspension bridge. Other witnesses found an unattended jacket and backpack containing a wallet, cell phone and other personal possessions on the suspension bridge."

This incident follows two other student deaths in the Fall Creek Gorge---William Sinclair on March 10 and Bradley Ginsberg on February 17. On March 22, CNN.com reported that the causes of all three deaths were determined to be suicide, bringing the total number to six for the academic year for Cornell, which CNN described as a "highly competitive Ivy League school."

Monitors have been temporarily placed at all bridges at Cornell University 24-7 and has plans to put up taller fences to act as a deterrent. They are also making students more aware of student support services.

03/11/10: William Sinclair, 19, Ithaca, NY

On March 11, 2010, rescue workers from the Ithaca Fire Department recovered the body of William Sinclair, a sophomore mechnical engineering student in the College of Engineering, from the Fall Creek Gorge near the Thurston Avenue Bridge.

He was 19 years old and a native of Chevy Chase, MD.

2/17/10: Bradley Ginsburg, 18, Ithaca, NY

Bradley Ginsburg, 18, a student at Cornell College in Ithaca was last seen by his roommate early Tuesday, February 17, 2010. He was reported missing later that night, according to the university. Ginsburg was an economics major in the College of Arts and Sciences, a new member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, and a resident of Mary Donlon Hall. The following day, his body was recovered from the Fall Creek Gorge. According a 3/16/10 article by ABC News, Cornell officials said the young man's death was ruled a suicide.

On March 22, Bradley's parents told CNN.com that they were not convinced that Bradley's death was a suicide, saying that Bradley, who was nicknamed "Smiles" by his fraternity brothers, was always happy and continuously smiling. He was a straight-A student, who loved college, showed no signs of stress, and called them daily. His mother Sherry Ginsburg said, "Nobody can believe that one of the happiest people that they knew, would ever do anything like that; and that's what's hurting--besides not having him--that's what's hurting me the most."

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bradley's family and friends; he will be sorely missed.

03/12/10: Matthew Zika, 21, Ithaca, NY

On March 12, 2010, the Ithaca Police Department began investigating the death of Cornell University engineering student Matthew Zika, who died near the suspension bridge over Fall Creek Gorge. According to the Cornell Daily Sun, "police first responded to Fall Creek Gorge at around 3:45 p.m. Friday afternoon [March 12.] The IPD temporarily closed the suspension bridge and the Stewart Avenue Bridge after a motorist reported seeing a man drop from the suspension bridge. Other witnesses found an unattended jacket and backpack containing a wallet, cell phone and other personal possessions on the suspension bridge."

On March 22, CNN.com reported that the death had been ruled a suicide. Zika's tragic death gained much attention because it occurred the day after another engineering student, William Sinclair, committed suicide in the same gorge. The previous month, Bradley Ginsburg's body was also recovered from the gorge, and later ruled a suicide. (Ginsburg's parents told CNN.com, they are not convinced their son would have harmed himself.)

About Matthew Zika
On a memorial Facebook group, Matthew Zika's friends describe him as "a quiet, sweet guy" who enjoyed movies, baseball, and was funny, smart and talented.  "I could tell he was a great guy from the minute I met him," said one friend. "Just one of those people that you could be friends with right away." He once gave another friend this bit of advice, "My hope in living life is that if one day someone told me it would be my last, I could smile and nod knowing full well that I did all I could with the time I was given. Only put off until tomorrow what you'd be okay with never having done."

Matthew Zika's obituary, published in the Ithaca Journal on March 23, 2010, reads:

WEST LAFAYETTE - Matthew C. Zika, 21, of West Lafayette, died Friday, March 12, 2010, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Born January 23, 1989 in Lafayette, he was the only child of Charles J. "Chip" Zika of West Lafayette and Brenda Thompson Zika of Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Matt graduated from Wm Henry Harrison High School, West Lafayette, Indiana in May 2007 where he was a member of the National Honor Society, won numerous writing awards, and earned a perfect ACT score. Matt enjoyed being a member of the Harrison Swim Team and was a star on the Raider's varsity baseball team - holding hitting records that still stand. He played in the Colt World Series for two seasons with Hoosier North and was a member of the Red Storm travel team. A junior at Cornell University, Matt was an Operations Research major in the College of Engineering where he was an Irwin and Joan Jacobs Scholar. He was scheduled to finish a year early and graduate this May. Matt had accepted a position with a healthcare software company in Wisconsin. Matt was employed as a student manager at Cornell's Robert Purcell Community Center Dining. He also worked as a seasonal engineering technician with the City of Ithaca, Department of Public Works. During his freshman and sophomore years at Cornell, Matt was proud to serve as a volunteer firefighter for the Cayuga Heights Fire Department.

Surviving with his parents are maternal grandparents Carroll W. and Mary Lou Thompson of Parkersburg, West Virginia; two aunts, Joyce Cooper (husband, Daniel) of Belpre, Ohio and Susan Warmsby (husband, Victor) of Atlanta, Georgia; three uncles, David Thompson (wife, Renee) of Gilbert, Arizona, Brian Thompson of Diana, West Virginia, and John Zika (wife, Karen) of Statesville, North Carolina.

Also surviving are nine cousins. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Charles A. and Elizabeth Zika of Western Springs, Illinois; and his aunt and uncle, Dr. Edwin and Rosemary "Rosie" (Zika) Williams of Ada, Ohio.

Memorial visitation 5-8 p.m. Saturday, March 27, 2010, at Hippensteel Funeral Home. Services at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, March 28, 2010, at University Plaza Hotel, Grand Ballroom, West Lafayette. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Harrison High School for the Matthew Zika Memorial Scholarship Fund, 5701 North 50 West, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906.

Hippensteel Funeral Service entrusted with care. Share memories and condolences online at www.hippensteelfuneralservice.com

Setting the record straight about Dan Zamlen

Back in February, WCCO announced that police had released "400 pages of documents" in which two friends said "Dan Zamlen was deeply conflicted about his own sexual orientation" and "talked about possibly killing himself." The release of the information hurt and angered the Zamlen family; the official police investigation had ended in June 2009, so the information did nothing but smear their son's name. The majority of the statements released by the police also came directly from witnesses who were problematic from the start.

Dan's mother, Sally Zamlen, has been investigating the case on her own and, in the hopes of setting the record straight, she has shared with me some of her alarming findings with me, such as:

• inconsistencies in statements made by those who last saw Dan
• cell phone records that do not match up with witness statements
• text messages deleted from the phone of witnesses
• physical evidence suggesting that Dan Zamlen was not overly intoxicated/incoherent
• reasons to believe Dan was not gay and having an identity crisis
• evidence that Dan had been thrown out of a bar in downtown Minneapolis the night before he disappeared and an attempted robbery had taken place
• medical examiner findings that point away from an accidental fall or jump into the river
• witness statements that Dan drank Vodka that "tasted bad" and that other partygoers had gotten unusually sick after drinking it; high levels of GHB in his body

More details about Sally Zamlen's findings are included in a March 6 e-mail Zamlen sent to Ruben Rosario, a reporter with the Pioneer Press. (A similiar e-mail was also sent to Esme Murphy, of WCCO.) Sally Zamlen has graciously offered it to me for posting on this site. In the e-mail, she addresses "trashy reporting," in her son's case by WCCO and in Rosario's recent article detailing allegations against Detective Gannon when charges had not been filed. She also disputes Rosario's criticism that the serial-killer theory provides empty hope to families. But perhaps, most importantly, she sets the record straight about her son, Dan. Click "Read More" to see the e-mail.

Informational meeting to be rescheduled

Update: Due to the short notice of this event, we have learned it would be best for most people if we reschedule it at a later date in the Twin Cities. We will be working on the agenda and planning additional details. I'll get them to you as soon as more is known. We would welcome any suggestions/input. Thanks go out to all of you who responded so quickly and who were willing to make the trek; we look forward to rescheduling this soon!