The body of a 20-year-old Princeton student who went missing over the weekend has been found.
Misrach Ewunetie’s remains were discovered in a remote area of the prestigious university’s New Jersey campus, near the tennis court, authorities told NBC News.
The Mercer County Prosecution Office confirmed to The Independent that Ms Ewunetie’s body was found by an employee around 1pm on Thursday.
There were no obvious signs of injury and her death “does not appear suspicious or criminal in nature,” prosecutor Angelo Onofri and Princeton assistant vice president Kenneth Strother said in a joint statement. The Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy to determine Ms Ewunetie’s cause of death.
Ms Ewunetie, a Junior at Princeton, was last seen around 3am on 14 October after she returned to her dorm from volunteering at an on-campus eating club. Her phone last pinged around 3.27am at a location seven minutes away driving from campus, The Sun reported.
Universe Ewunetie, Ms Ewunetie’s brother, told the outlet that she was sharing her location with a family member before her phone was turned off near what seems to be a housing complex in Penns Neck.
On Sunday, Ms Ewunetie’s family requested that Princeton’s Department of Public Safety conducted a well-being check on her after she failed to communicate with them for days. A “Tiger alarm” was issued on Monday, the university said in a statement.
Speaking to NBC News before the tragic developments on Thursday, Mr Ewunetie described his sister as a reserved, yet empathetic person.
“She’s loved and cared for, and we’re missing her. We’re looking for her,” her brother told the outlet. “She’s a very smart, empathetic person who cares for people. A reserved person.”
“She’s dearly loved by her family and everybody that has known her and that has ever come to her,” he added. “People that are from her middle school to high school, from people that even interviewed her. She was valedictorian. She’s a very smart girl.”
