Misrach Ewunetie missing Princeton University student found dead: No criminality or signs of trauma. Star student vanished one day before Ethiopian having planned meeting for citizenship.
A Princeton University student who went missing late last week was found dead, close to the campus where the 20 year old girl vanished from six days ago.
Misrach Ewunetie’s body was was discovered near the edge of the school’s New Jersey campus on Thursday, near the tennis courts, NBC 4 reported.
A release from the Mercer County Prosecutors Office, noted that there were no signs of trauma on the body, along with no criminality, ‘Her death does not appear suspicious or criminal in nature.’
No further details on a cause of death have been shared, and an autopsy will now be performed.
The young student’s remains were found in a remote area of the Ivy League campus, which is only open to authorized badge holders.
Missing Princeton Ethiopian student cause of death ruled suicide
How did star student end up dead after working event?
Ewunetie a noted high achieving student and valedictorian, and originally hailing from Ethiopia was last seen on October 14 at around 3am near Princeton University’s Scully Hall, the residential building where she lived.
She had volunteered at Princeton’s Terrace Club for a live music event the night she was last seen.
It had been a last minute arrangement, after another person who was meant to be working the event dropped out, the Daily Princetonian reported.
Her body was located 1.5 miles from her dwelling, in an area near State Road by the university’s Recreation Department which houses a walking trail, community pool and sports facilities.
Ewunetie’s disappearance triggered a multi-day hunt for her whereabouts that resulted in drones, helicopters and watercraft vehicles being deployed around the Ivy League university.
Princeston’s Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun called Ewunetie’s death an ‘unthinkable tragedy.’
‘Our hearts go out to her family, her friends and the many others who knew and loved her,’ she said in a statement. ‘We are planning an opportunity for students to join together and remember Misrach. Information about the gathering will be shared separately when details are known.’
Mystery telephone ping
A school spokesperson said, ‘We have no additional information to share at this time.’
Campus police had visited Ewunetie’s housing estate three times and have conducted a search with dogs, but were unable to enter any properties due to a lack of search warrants.
Earlier today, Ewunetie’s brother, Universe, claimed his family had not been getting the full details from police about their search.
‘There’s no constant update or interaction with us,’ Universe told CNN. ‘We’re really kept in the dark.
It was previously revealed that her cellphone last pinged early Sunday morning from a location seven miles from the campus.
The ping was located at a New Jersey housing complex near Penns neck. Police officials had told Universe that the investigation was going to take time.
JUST IN: Princeton student Misrach Ewunetie was found dead on Thursday nearly one week after she went missing, officials said. https://t.co/kVq5OPPjE5
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) October 20, 2022
What happened between 3 and 4 am the night of vanishing?
No further details on that ping have been shared.
‘That’s one thing we don’t have,’ he said. ‘We don’t have time.’
Universe said Misrach had been volunteering at Princeton’s Terrace Club, one of the school’s 11 private eating clubs, on October 13.
Terrace Club is one of the non-private clubs at Princeton, requiring members to only sign up for membership, and is not associated with the university. The clubs are for upperclassmen at the school to eat lunches and participate in various activities.
Other clubs require prospective members to apply for membership.
She was a member on ‘duty’ — performing housekeeping tasks during a live music performance at the club.
After the club had closed and all of the responsibilities had been fulfilled, Misrach, together with other members on duty, left for the night.
Following the event ‘she went back to her dorm at 3am’ her brother said. ‘Her roommates said they saw her at 3am. Then another roommate of hers said she didn’t see her after 4am, and then after that no one has seen her.
‘Her housemates didn’t look for her because they assumed she went home.’
Vanished day before she was set to meet for citizenship application
‘With the pandemic, the first year they were not on campus, so that was difficult for her and for a lot of people,’ Universe explained.
‘But this year she’s been trying to get in this Terrace Club, and that was her way of making friends.’
Ewunetie was a 2020 graduate of the Minds Matter Cleveland program, which works to help high-achieving low-income students. Sara Elagad, executive director of the nonprofit told CNN that her former student’s disappearance was very out of character.
‘It is not at all in character for her to purposely go off the radar or be out of touch with family,’ Elagad said. ‘We are supporting her family as they assist law enforcement efforts to safely locate her.’
Ewunetie was valedictorian of her high school and was majoring in sociology with a minor in computer science at Princeton, according to Planet Princeton.
Ewunetie’s LinkedIn profile described her studying sociology with a certificate in the ‘Applications of Computing.’
‘I aim to bring value to the corporate world through innovative problem solving and data analysis skills that will continue to grow as I pursue my education at Princeton,’ the star student wrote in her bio.
Ewunetie spent her past two summers interning at McKinsey & Company’s Ohio office as a summer business analyst.
Her family who have lived in Ohio since 2008, but who are originally from Ethiopia, say her disappearance is all the more unsettling after she missed a meeting regarding a citizenship application the following day.
‘She is the gem of the house, [my parents’] only daughter and the youngest,’ Universe said. ‘She is very loved.’
