MYSTERY SHROUDS IVY DEATH
Kin 'in the dark'
Relatives of the 20-yearold Princeton student who was found dead six days after she went missing earlier this month say important details about her disappearance are being kept from them.
Misrach Ewunetie’s family, speaking to several media outlets last week, vented their frustration over being “kept in the dark” by authorities over her case.
“There’s no constant update or interaction with us,” brother Universe Ewunetie told CNN last week, shortly before her body was found. “We’re really kept in the dark.”
Misrach Ewunetie’s body was found behind the tennis courts near the edge of the Ivy League campus in New Jersey by a facilities employee around 1 p.m. on Thursday, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Authorities have yet to determine the cause of death, but they have said that “there were no obvious signs of injury, and her death does not appear suspicious or criminal in nature.”
An autopsy was performed Friday, but the medical examiner’s office is awaiting the toxicology report as well as other test results, according to prosecutor’s office representative Casey DeBlasio.
The high-achieving student’s disappearance on Oct. 14 sparked a statewide manhunt. Her family, who are from Ethiopia but live in Ohio, became alarmed when she missed a meeting regarding her US citizenship Saturday.
Ewunetie had checked into her Scully Hall dorm around 3 a.m. after spending the night volunteering at a Princeton Terrace Club event.
One of her suitemates reported seeing Ewuenetie brushing her teeth and going to her room — but when the roommate checked again around 4:30 a.m., Ewuenetie was nowhere to be seen.
Ewunetie’s phone last pinged a cell tower sometime after 3 a.m. at a housing complex about 30 minutes from her dorm by foot, her brother told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“It’s pretty far away,” he said. “Princeton is a big campus, and it’s very insular, right? So it’s very odd that her phone would be off campus. Like, everything is on campus.”
Ewunetie’s LinkedIn profile said she was studying sociology with a certificate in the “Applications of Computing.” She was expected to graduate from Princeton in 2024.
Princeton Vice President W. Rochelle Calhoun in a statement released on Thursday said, “Misrach’s death is an unthinkable tragedy. Our hearts go out to her family, her friends and the many others who knew and loved her.
“Princeton is a closeknit community, and we mourn Misrach together.”