A young west suburban man whose body was found last month in a wooded area near Mount Rushmore died of hypothermia, an autopsy showed.
Custer County, South Dakota, Coroner Jim Sanders on Friday said autopsy and toxicological testing results showed the Naperville man, Jordan M. Baznik, “died of hypothermia, with dehydration a contributing factor," the Naperville Sun is reporting.
Sanders added the toxicological testing found no traces of alcohol or narcotics in Baznik’s bloodstream.
“He was completely clean,” Sanders said of Baznik.
Toxicological testing is done in laboratories, and the results sometimes take weeks to compile. Sanders said he received the results on Tuesday, discussed them with Baznik’s parents on Wednesday, and formally signed the death certificate on Thursday.
Baznik, 23, lived in the far west-central part of Naperville, and was a 2009 graduate of Naperville Central High School and a 2013 graduate of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. He was vice president of the university’s student electronic music club.
He disappeared Aug. 6 while on a road trip with three friends from Illinois. They had planned to attend a music festival or concert in Canada, but drove first to the Black Hills of South Dakota, intent on seeing Mount Rushmore.
Custer County Sheriff’s Police Lt. Stephen McMillin in August said he understood Baznik’s friends told authorities in adjacent Pennington County, S.D., that Baznik’s “emotions were all over the place” during their drive from Illinois. His companions reported “one minute he’d be happy, and then next minute he’d be crying,” McMillin said.
The quartet stopped at a hotel in Keystone, South Dakota, where Baznik reportedly told his friends he “didn’t like the smell of the towels in the hotel,” McMillin said. He went outside to his red, 2014 Mazda 5 to retrieve one of his own towels, and was not seen again, McMillin said.
Searchers on Aug. 12 discovered the Mazda near Camp Remington Road, and later recovered Baznik’s identification and some of his clothing from a makeshift encampment. They then launched ground and air searches for him.
Baznik’s body was found the afternoon of Aug. 15, one-half to three-quarters of a mile north of the Iron Creek Centennial Trailhead in the Black Elk Wilderness. McMillin said that is roughly 25 to 30 miles from where he disappeared.
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No signs of violence or foul play were found on the body.
He added there was “no indication of (Baznik) having been on any medication” during his travels or at the time of his death.
McMillin said late Friday afternoon via email his agency has completed its investigation into Baznik’s disappearance and death, and has closed the case.
