Vincenzo Lirosi UNH student found dead after fight at frat party. Missing student cause of death thought not to be suspicious as officials await result of autopsy.
A University of New Hampshire student was found dead Sunday afternoon in a marshy area near campus, 36 hours after he was reported missing, authorities said.
Vincenzo ‘Vinny’ Lirosi, 22, disappeared following a fight at a frat party, which led to the student being ejected after a night of drinking, friends of the student told WMUR-TV.
‘It’s pretty uncharacteristic of him,’ Jordan Blanchard told the news outlet. ‘This is his first fight ever.’
Lirosi was kicked out of the party following the alleged feud, Blanchard said.
‘They kicked him and told him to go home. That’s when he went into the woods,’ Blanchard added.
Death not regarded suspicious
Other partygoers told police they last saw Lirosi — who was not a member of the fraternity — walking along a wooden path frequented by students around campus at about 1 a.m. Saturday.
He was reported missing about two hours later.
‘We started to think how he would think, and we started walking through the woods on different trails,’ Blanchard explained. ‘We walked all the way to Jackson’s Landing to see if he was over there, and we could not find anything.’
The body of Lirosi, who hailed from Whitman, Massachusetts, was found around 1:20pm on Sunday.
Durham police used a K-9 and thermal drone to search woods while New Hampshire State police and Fish and Game using a helicopter to search for him.
Lirosi’s wallet was found in a parking lot while his cellphone was found at the fraternity house.
Police do not regard Lirosi’s death as suspicious.
‘Though this is not the outcome we all had hoped for, we are grateful that we were able to find Vincenzo and bring some closure to his family,’ said Durham Police Chief Rene Kelley, according to the report.
An autopsy will determine the student’s cause of death.
