Purdue News
Purdue News
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April 13, 1998
Body of missing student foundWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The body of a Purdue University student, who was missing for nearly four weeks, has been found in a rural wooded area of Johnson County in central Indiana.Mushroom hunters discovered the body of John C. Leath, 19, about 6 p.m. Sunday (4/12) and alerted the Johnson County Sheriff's Department. The Johnson County coroner's preliminary ruling on the cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A shotgun was located at the scene. Leath was a freshman in engineering from Wilmette, Ill., who resided in Cary Quadrangle Residence Hall. He was last seen in the Purdue campus/Greater Lafayette area on March 19 after buying a shotgun at a Lafayette store. Steven R. Dietrich, Purdue police captain of investigations, said a name tag found in a backpack near the body and a dental records check assisted investigators in making a positive identification. It remains unclear how Leath made his way to Johnson County, because he did not have a car. The body was found in an area about a mile from Interstate 65. Dietrich said an autopsy was conducted at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis today (Monday, 4/13). Leath will be one of two students recognized during Golden Taps at 10 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday 4/14) in Spitzer Court, Cary Quadrangle. The ceremony is open to the public and is conducted monthly when a member of the student body has died the month before. The activity is coordinated by Pendragon, the Cary Quadrangle student leadership honorary. Purdue and Greater Lafayette police departments formed an interdepartmental task force last week to pursue the investigation into Leath's disappearance. A sweep of the banks of the Wabash River in Lafayette/West Lafayette and helicopter flyovers on Friday (4/10) yielded no clues. Purdue police were first informed of Leath's disappearance on March 23, when the student's father called police to report that his son had not been seen since four days earlier.
Source: Capt. Steven R. Dietrich, (765) 494-8221
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