This is just strange. Any theories?

Left party in rain storm in the early morning.
Declined offers for a ride and chose to walk in storm and took a broken path through the woods and swap.
Found dead 7 days later with no immediate evidence of foul play. Shoes and cloths found scattered in an illogical pattern.

http://heavy.com/news/2017/05/micha...death-body-missing-duke-college-student/

How cold was it?

The night and next day that we was gone had highs in the 40's. It was raining when he left.

If he was drunk or high on something or an idiot and decided to wander around in the woods, he could have easily succumbed to exposure

ecstasy or some other "rave" drug

I'll also add, that once hypothermia starts kicking in, which wouldn't take long in 40 degree weather with rain, you will become seriously disorientated

44 was low that night, high of 60 the following day. I originally looked at the wrong temp history which showed 55. Hypothermia probably.

K2 drugs?? Ecstasy?? DNC staffer???

Hypothermia can cause many odd reactions in people. Add in intoxication and/or drugs and the odds of abnormal behavior increase. Being wet only speeds up the process as well as enhancing the effects of the cold. I have recovered persons who succumbed to the cold who were in various stages of undress ranging from removal of jacket to nearly nude due to the affect of cold on the thought process.

Cause of death: Stupidity.

Somebody killed him?

No gun. No pepper spray. No bloodhounds? Wtf.

It's physiological. In early stages of hypothermia your body restricts blood flow to the extremities to keep your core warm and organs functioning. At a certain point, your body loses ability to control blood flow and the blood is released to the extremities, making the person feel hot and flushed. That's when they start to shed clothes.

With this limited information, sounds like classic hypothermia.

People have died from hypothermia in temps higher than 50, especially if the wind is blowing. Here in arid country, rain water can be considerably colder than it is in humid areas. Getting caught in the rain here isn't a warm shower like it can be in wetter places.

During the early stages of hypothermia, the body pulls blood from the extremities to the body core. This can make the victim feel hot and shed clothing while they are dying from being too cold, hence the scattered clothing.

Sad. Got lost, turned around, etc and died of exposure. It can happen easy. Been there myself and I am no rooky to the outdoors.

had a woman die of exposure less than a 1/2 mile from my house in the suburbs back in March. She was drunk.

SAR guys say when they start finding clothes, it's a really bad sign and they know it will be a recovery. Lots of folks who die of hypothermia will be found naked due to the effect you mentioned above.

Damn that's gotta be tough on parents

Agreed, with only this to go on, textbook hypothermia.

All you'll need is the toxicology report. Play stupid games, win stupid "prizes."

At 40 degrees and rain can you get far enough into hypothermia to feel hot and take off your clothes?

Yes. The brain goes numb and the body feels hot. They shed clothes to cool off because the brain isn't functioning right.

EASILY. Plus it was raining when he left, according to the article. Plus he was probably wearing jeans/cotton. Lots of folks on the 'Fire laugh when others say cotton kills, but it does.

Another college party claims a student who made poor choices and paid the ultimate price. Parents can only do so much. There is a small percentage that will be succumb to irresponsible
actions every year.

Thanks for the update. I have been following this case but didn't see any reports in the last 3 days.
Sad story, I have been real drunk, and even high at more than one college party. More than one. It is what college boys do.

Body out in the woods for 7 days, can you do a toxicology report or would the dope and booze have disintegrated?

Cotton is excellent, as long as you can stay warm and dry when you're wearing it.

Simple Simon, the word you are looking for is dissipated ....BTW, more schooling for you on your other "profundity" regarding the PH killed by an elephant.

J

Jorge...you are stalking.

Why, how did you guess?

I recognise it from the times I have done it.

Hypothermia starts to kick in when your body temperature gets to about 95 degrees. I would venture to say that more people die of "exposure" (cold related) in wet temperatures above 60 degrees than they do in temperatures below 60 degrees.

This.

And this.

I grew up in that town and know that area well. There are trails there, but that "swamp" given all the recent rain, is basically uncrossable. On the other side, a golf course and major highway. Then he came back across it a second time. Either clueless due to hypothermia/booze/drugs or something weird happened.