A SUNY Oneonta student died on Thursday after being found unconscious in the cold 3.5 miles off campus, according to school authorities.
Tyler Lopresti-Castro, 20, was found on the pavement of a city bus garage by Oneonta transit employees around 7 a.m. Thursday, per ABC News. Otsego County Coroner Terry Knapp shares that emergency employees “did every possible thing they could do to resuscitate him,” before he was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead. He was identified by his SUNY Oneonta ID, and Knapp said the temperature that morning was 12 below.
Oneonta Police Chief Christopher Witzenburg said during a Friday briefing that Lopresti-Castro—who lived off-campus— was only wearing a sweatshirt and jeans and suffered from “extended exposure to extremely cold, subzero temperatures,” calling the case a “cold weather-related incident” during a Friday press briefing.
“This is a very sad time for SUNY Oneonta,” the school shared in a statement, adding that it is cooperating with authorities. “Our campus community is mourning the loss of one of our own, and we are focused on providing support to the student’s family and friends. Our hearts go out to them, and we are providing whatever assistance we can to help them during this difficult time.”
The student—who was a graduate of Columbia High School in East Greenbush, New York— was last seen at midnight on Thursday, per police, and later could be seen on surveillance video at 2:15 a.m. emerging through the garage.
“Between midnight and 2:15 a.m. we really don’t know where he was, so we’re asking that the public contact the Oneonta Police Department with any information that they may be able to provide to detectives and try to fill that time gap,” Witzenburg said.
Witzenburg added that any talk around fraternity involvement in the death is “speculation,” and that there is currently no information pointing to that being the case. SUNY Oneonta is awaiting police investigation results and is not investigating any students at this time.
A GoFundMe for Lopresti-Castro has already earned over $25,000 of a $100,000 goal. Organizers share that he “left an impact on every person he met by giving so much love and support.”
