University of Illinois

Student found dead on University of Illinois campus died of hypothermia, coroner confirms

Observatory Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

An 18-year-old University of Illinois student who was found dead on the school's campus last month died of hypothermia, the Champaign County Coroner's Office confirmed.

Akul Dhawan was found dead on the university's campus on the morning of Jan. 20 around 10 hours after authorities were contacted regarding concerns of his whereabouts.

A press release from the Champaign County Coroner's Office confirmed that in addition to hypothermia, acute alcohol intoxication and prolonged exposure to extremely cold temperatures played a significant role in his death.

Dhawan's death was officially ruled as accidental.

A previous timeline released by University of Illinois police detailed the department's response to calls regarding Dhawan's whereabouts the night he went missing, which showed gaps in action in the hours between the first call made to police from friends and the moment Dhawan's body was found.

Dhawan was discovered unresponsive on concrete steps near a campus building shortly after 11 a.m. in the 1200 block of West Nevada Street in Urbana by a university employee, shortly under 10 hours after Dhawan was initially reported missing.

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