First posted: Nov. 16, 2:41 p.m. CST
Updated: Nov. 17, 5:27 p.m. CST
As of 5:13 p.m., the university had still not heard any results from the Cook County medical examiner. “We’ll be there all night,” university spokesman Al Cubbage said.
In an interview early Monday afternoon, Cubbage said that the identification of a body which may be that of missing Northwestern student Trevor Boehm will come “late in the day.”
“My understanding is, we won’t hear anything until probably close to 5 p.m., and maybe even after,” Cubbage said at the time.
An article on the Chicago Tribune’s Web site at 3:10 p.m. has added more details about the examination. The medical examiner’s office would not return repeated calls for comment, so we reproduce that story below.
Officials today were still trying to positively identify a body pulled from Lake Michigan Sunday morning that Northwestern University officials said could be a student from Colorado who was reported missing from campus more than a week ago.
The results of an autopsy performed by the Cook County medical examiner’s office today were that the unidentified white man in his 20s died from drowning, but the manner of the death was unknown, pending a police investigation.
Officials were continuing to work to identify the body today and may have to use dental records, an office spokeswoman said.
The body was spotted in the lake just before 7:30 a.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of North Simonds Drive near Montrose Harbor, police said.
On Thursday, authorities in Evanston along with the U.S. Coast Guard began searching the lake for Northwestern freshman Trevor Boehm, 20, after his jacket and other personal belongings were found along the lakeshore near the school’s Evanston campus. Boehm, of Monument, Colo., was reported missing Nov. 9.
That search was focused on an area about six miles north of where the body was found Sunday.
In a weekend statement, a university spokesman said there has not been a positive identification of the body, but that Northwestern police are assisting Chicago police in the investigation.
“University officials continue to be in contact with Trevor’s family and our thoughts are with them at this time,” university spokesman Alan Cubbage said in the statement.
A body found in Lake Michigan Sunday morning “may be that of a missing Northwestern University student, Trevor J. Boehm, but no positive identification has been made at this time,” the university said in a statement on Sunday.
“Northwestern has been informed that the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office is expected to begin the process of making a formal identification on Monday afternoon,” Vice President for University Relations Al Cubbage said in the press release.
The Chicago Tribune and theChicago Sun-Times published breaking news posts on Sunday reporting the discovery of the body, and linking it to Boehm’s disappearance.
The university will hold a vigil at the Alice Millar Chapel on Monday night at 8 p.m., where students are encouraged to share stories, music and photos of Trevor.
The vigil was originally scheduled to take place at the Rock, but was moved due to the weather forecast, said University Residential Life Director Mary G. Goldenberg in an e-mail.
Read the statement below:
Statement by Alan K. Cubbage, Vice President, University Relations, Regarding Missing Northwestern Student
November 16, 2008The Northwestern University Police Department was notified today (Nov. 16) that the body of a man was found early today in Lake Michigan near Montrose Harbor in Chicago. The body may be that of a missing Northwestern University student, Trevor J. Boehm, but no positive identification has been made at this time. Northwestern has been informed that the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office is expected to begin the process of making a formal identification on Monday afternoon.
Northwestern University Police are assisting the Chicago Police Department in the investigation.
Boehm, 20, a first-year student in the School of Communication from Monument, Col., had been reported missing last Sunday (Nov. 9). On Thursday (Nov.13), his jacket, which contained his Northwestern identification card, keys, and cell phone, was found among the rocks on the shore of Lake Michigan on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. A search of the lake was conducted Thursday and Friday by police and Coast Guard officers, but found nothing.
University officials continue to be in contact with Trevor’s family and our thoughts are with them at this time.
Lisa Gartner contributed to this report.