Funeral planned for Warmbier

Coroner to probe death of student held in North Korea

CINCINNATI — A public funeral service is planned Thursday at a high school attended by a 22-yearold college student who was held for nearly a year and a half in North Korea and died shortly after he was sent home in a coma.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco said the office accepted the case of Otto Warmbier, who died Monday in a Cincinnati hospital.

The coroner’s office daily report Tuesday included Warmbier in its listings with cause of death termed “pending.”

Wambier’s parents did not cite a specific cause of death, but cited “awful, torturous mistreatment” by North Korea. Doctors had described Warmbier’s condition as a state of “unresponsive wakefulness” and said he suffered a “severe neurological injury.”

Warmbier was returned to Ohio on June 13 after being held for more than 17 months.

Warmbier was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was convicted of subversion.

He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labor. His family said it was told he had been in a coma since soon after his sentencing.

Doctors said Warmbier suffered extensive loss of brain tissue and “profound weakness and contraction” of his muscles, arms and legs. His eyes opened and blinked but without any sign that he understood verbal commands.

North Korea said Warmbier went into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill. Doctors in Cincinnati said they found no active sign of botulism or evidence of beatings.

The U.S. Department of State warns against travel to North Korea.