Student finds friend dead

From Staff Reports

A Purdue student was found dead in his apartment late Saturday afternoon, according to West Lafayette Police.

Lt. Jason Dombkowski, of the West Lafayette Police Department, said Travis R. Simpson, 19, of 249-7 S. Salisbury, was found unconscious at approximately 4:25 Saturday afternoon by a friend, who called 911.

As of late Sunday evening, the cause of Simpson's death is unknown and attempts to reach the county coroner were unsuccessful.

Dombkowski said, however, that an investigation into the cause of death is ongoing. More information is expected to be released later in the week.

Simpson, a Kokomo, Ind., native and sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering technology, is the fourth Purdue student to die in two weeks, which according to Joseph Bennett, vice president for University relations, is extremely unusual.

A little more than a week ago, on Jan. 26, two Purdue students died as a result of injuries sustained in a vehicle accident on St. Rd. 26 when the car they were riding in lost control on a patch of ice and collided with a semi-truck. Matthew T. Cahill, 22, and Jacob C. Cushman, 20, died from the weather-related accident and Matthew T. Cushman, 23 and brother to Jacob, survived but was rushed to Lutheran Hospital where he was treated for serious injuries. Cahill, who is remembered as the founder of a campus-wide "Do you agree with Matt?" religious campaign, was a senior in the Schools of Engineering. Jacob was a sophomore in the School of Liberal Arts and his brother, Matthew, is a Purdue graduate.

Less than a week earlier, on Jan. 22, Purdue student Laura M. Williams, 21, was found dead in the bedroom of her apartment. Though preliminary toxicology reports have been completed, the exact cause of Williams' death is still unknown. Williams was a junior in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences.

"Its just sort of a tragic coincidence," said Bennett.

Bennett said, however, that this trend of student deaths occurs every few years.

"It does occasionally happen when you have a cluster of student deaths all happen around the same time," said Bennett. "And there will be times when you don't have a student death for four months."

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