Forensic dental examination confirms identity
American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: The missing Brown University student Sunil Tripathi, 22, who was also mistakenly identified as a suspect in the Boston bombings and his family hounded by so called amateur investigators of the website Reddit, has been found dead in the waters of a river near Providence, Rhode Island.
Tripathi, a Philosophy major, who was missing since March 16th from Brown and had left home without his cell phone and wallet, was identified today by the Rhode Island medical examiner’s office who examined the body found in the river on Tuesday. A forensic dental examination helped confirm the identity, according to Dara Chadwick, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health, reported ABC News.
Lindsay Lague, a spokesperson for the Providence Police Department, told ABCNews.com, “There is no foul play suspected.”
“This last month has changed our lives forever, and we hope it will change yours too,” Tripathi’s family said in a statement expressing its “indescribable grief” and gratitude. “We appreciate the coverage and support, but at this time, we ask for privacy for our family and for our love for Sunny.”
Tripathi’s disappearance had received national attention after the FBI joined the search, expanding the search across the Northeast after authorities found no signs of him in the Providence, R.I., area.
“He’s very quiet, he’s very private, he’s very intellectual,” Tripathi’s mother, Judy, said in an interview last week to the New York Times. “He admitted to some depression, but he said that he could figure it out, he could handle it.”
“Be open to letting someone in when it is you who is faltering,” read the Tripathi family’s statement. “Lend your hand. We need it. The world needs it.”
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