Author Topic: Purdue Student Disappears (Read 5509 times)

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #25 on:** January 22, 2007, 09:59:45 AM »

Quote from: El Tejon on January 22, 2007, 07:52:58 AM

HTG, no, I'm not a Purdue folk, although I do not mind dating Purdue students, professors and administration officials. grin

Tejon sounds another booty call to male APS members. Tongue

Bogie · « **Reply #26 on:** January 22, 2007, 10:18:24 AM »

Tejster...

"Chemically imbalanced?"

Dude, someone done been around the legal system WAY too long...

Replace with "flaming homicidal nutjob."

Too many of these folks grew up pulling the wings off flies and disassembling neighborhood pets, in between their parents' torture sessions, but there are also folks who have "normal" childhoods (okay - I admit that I once tried the magnifying glass and anthill thing - right before I got bored and poured gasoline on it like I was supposed to...) who grow up to be flaming homicidal nutjobs...

Nick1911 · « **Reply #27 on:** January 22, 2007, 10:43:21 AM »

Quote from: Headless Thompson Gunner on January 22, 2007, 07:49:36 AM

Everyone I've talked to today seems pretty depressed about the search. It's been a week since Wade disappeared, and nobody has been able to find a thing about him. It's becoming harder to deny the fact that he's probably gone for good. sad

On another note...
I'm a student at Purdue, too. How could I have gone this long without realizing there are at least two other Purdue folks here on APS, El Tejon and Nick1911? Are there any other Boilermakers hiding out there?

I am a Purdue Student, unlike Mr. Lawyer on the other side of the river. cheesy

The search is getting pretty depressing. I really would have thought that he would have shown up by now. sad

tokugawa · « **Reply #28 on:** January 31, 2007, 06:40:31 PM »

Any news?

Cosmoline · « **Reply #29 on:** January 31, 2007, 07:06:06 PM »

A nine year old going missing on campus is a big deal. A 19 year old going missing is NOT. It's called bagging the semester and ditching the parents. Why it's even newsworthy is beyond me.

Headless Thompson Gunner · « **Reply #30 on:** January 31, 2007, 08:51:39 PM »

Quote from: Cosmoline on January 31, 2007, 06:06:06 PM

A nine year old going missing on campus is a big deal. A 19 year old going missing is NOT. It's called bagging the semester and ditching the parents. Why it's even newsworthy is beyond me.

'Cause straight-A, middle class, white kids with bright futures don't ditch their families and run off like that. Odds are good he was taken, and it looks more and more like he isn't coming back alive.

It's news because there are 40,000 pairs of middle class white parents of other good Purdue students who are afraid their little Timmy or Johnny or Mary might be the next to vanish.

Nick1911 · « **Reply #31 on:** March 20, 2007, 07:36:32 AM »

Quote

UPDATE (11:15 a.m.): Steffey accidently electrocuted, death instantaneous, Dale Steffey: Thankful for his son
By Staff Reports

The body found in a high-voltage room in Owen Hall Monday afternoon has been identified as that of missing freshman Wade Steffey.

University spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said during a press conference at 10:18 a.m. that the cause of death has been determined to be accidental electrocution.

Officials think Wade was trying to get into Owen Hall, next to his residence of Cary Quadrangle, and tried different doors. He entered through the exterior entrance of the high-voltage room, which was not marked with a high voltage sign. During the investigation, police found that the exterior door had been unlocked.

Norberg said the area near the room was searched previously by dogs.

"The location of Wade's body inside the room would have made it difficult for anyone to see him from any of the doorways," she said.

Norberg also said the person who opened the door Monday and discovered the body, a utility worker, was drawn in by the smell.

Officials also think he tripped within the room, which was about 50 yards from where he was last seen. He was accidently electrocuted and the death was instantaneous.

The utility room, about the size of a one-car garage, contains three electrical transformers which are connected by high-voltage wires, said Norberg. Steffey's body was found behind one of the transformers.

The coroner is releasing the body sometime today and the funeral will be held in Bloomington, Ind., Steffey's hometown.

Wade Steffey, who has been missing since early Jan. 13, was last seen just out of Owen Hall by two female students.

Wade's father, Dale Steffey, said the past couple of months have been difficult. He said he is glad to have his son and the investigation is not over. "We're thankful more than anything," he said. "We're thankful we have our son."

Dawn Adams, Steffey's mother, said she was glad her son's death was not malicious.

She said she is mostly relieved for everyone involved in the search effort, but feels grief as well.

"We have many answers. We have the big answer to where our son is," she said. "and we have him back."

Check back with www.purdueexponent.org for updates on this story.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #32 on:** March 20, 2007, 07:40:02 AM »

So he wandered into an equipment room with no light, tripped and was electrocuted. There you go.

Question, though...is it code for an unmarked utility room to have transformers with open busbars like that? Not even a cage? Seems kind of hazardous to me?

And it's not like it's one of those hundreds-of-years-old brick buildings with frighteningly jury-rigged old power systems jammed into former furnace or coalbunker spaces.

Quote

Owen Residence Hall opened in 1957 and was named for Richard Owen, the first president of Purdue University.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #33 on:** March 20, 2007, 07:47:36 AM »

Why did Cheney order this hit? I just don't get it.

AmbulanceDriver · « **Reply #34 on:** March 20, 2007, 07:53:08 AM »

Cheney

Obviously some type of joke, but I don't get it...

So judging by reports, he must have just hit one of the legs of the HV side of the transformer. Probably enough to cause a brief power flicker, but that's about it..

Had he hit more than that, he'd have been found much sooner. Or at least parts of him would, after the arc flash explosion (and possibly transformer explosion)....

Sindawe · « **Reply #35 on:** March 20, 2007, 08:06:15 AM »

What a damn shame. But I suppose its better than him having suffered for hours as a play thing for some deranged creep.

I wonder what liability Purdue will face for having a dangerous facility unmarked and unlocked.

El Tejon · « **Reply #36 on:** March 20, 2007, 08:15:12 AM »

Enormous liability, even with an Indiana jury. The PI lawyers were smacking their lips in court today.

Headless Thompson Gunner · « **Reply #37 on:** March 20, 2007, 08:23:07 AM »

What a shame.

Makes you wonder what he was doing. There's no need to break into Owen through a double secret back door. The regular entrance doors are usually unlocked, and it's no trouble getting someone inside to open a door for you if they are locked. People are always coming and going through those doors, at all hours of the day and night.

What a horrible turn of bad luck to find the main doors locked and the transformer room unlocked. undecided

Quote from: El Tejon on March 20, 2007, 07:15:12 AM

Enormous liability, even with an Indiana jury. The PI lawyers were smacking their lips in court today.

Yup, this is gonna get ugly. Somebody is going to make a lot of money at Purdue's expense.

DrAmazon · « **Reply #38 on:** March 20, 2007, 08:41:58 AM »

This kind of thing happened at a college where I used to teach. Student was looking for the fabled "steam tunnel access" from one part of campus to another and went into the high voltage area. Very sad.

AJ Dual · « **Reply #39 on:** March 20, 2007, 08:56:08 AM »

This has been happening a lot here in college towns on either side of the Mississippi between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

They leave the bars or kegger parties and just "dissapear", then they sometimes turn up along the Mississippi river banks down around Iowa or Illinois. Some are up in arms about a "serial killer", but it's probably just kids falling-down drunk.

Hard for me to prove, but my first thought when I opened this thread was that considering the winter weather, he just fell asleep, or passed out somewhere moderately concealed and died of exposure. That he got electrocuted is just a variation on the theme as far as I'm concerned.

It seems counter-intutitve that it's "hard" to hide something as "big" as a body, accidentaly or otherwise, but I'd wager that the police and various SAR professionals can tell you otherwise.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #40 on:** March 20, 2007, 08:57:26 AM »

Quote from: AmbulanceDriver on March 20, 2007, 06:53:08 AM

Cheney

Obviously some type of joke, but I don't get it...

Yeah, that was just a joke. The real question is, why did the homosexual kidnapper return the body to the school and dump him in some electrical room?

Matthew Carberry · « **Reply #41 on:** March 20, 2007, 10:53:01 AM »

Quote from: fistful on March 20, 2007, 07:57:26 AM

Quote from: AmbulanceDriver on March 20, 2007, 06:53:08 AM

Cheney

Obviously some type of joke, but I don't get it...

Yeah, that was just a joke. The real question is, why did the homosexual kidnapper return the body to the school and dump him in some electrical room?

That's a question best left to the elite profilers of the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit.

LadySmith · « **Reply #42 on:** March 21, 2007, 02:33:16 AM »

I'm curious as to why the search dogs didn't find him.

Harold Tuttle · « **Reply #43 on:** March 21, 2007, 03:35:41 AM »

there was most likely a lot of masking odors from the closed "locked" electrical room

El Tejon · « **Reply #44 on:** March 21, 2007, 07:51:53 AM »

Or, the cops used the search dogs everywhere except at Owen Hall.

Matthew Carberry · « **Reply #45 on:** March 21, 2007, 08:37:40 AM »

If there were masking odors so the dog didn't alert at the doorway, as suggested, and the room was dangerous enough that brushing against something could be fatal, I doubt they'd actually take the dog in. Too much risk of losing a dog or handler.

If the dog had caught anything, they probably would have sent someone, a biped who can be smart enough not to ram its nose into live electricity, in to look around.

roo_ster · « **Reply #46 on:** March 21, 2007, 09:56:00 AM »

Or, they were using Trusty from Lady and the Tramp.

Yes, I have seen too many kid-oriented Disney classics recently. It is about the only thing kids can watch and not get barraged with sex, violence, or lefist agitprop.

Even Animal Planet and the newer (last 20 years) animal programs are anti-hunter, anti-market, anti-human, luddite screeds with a cutesy critter on the packaging.

Lee · « **Reply #47 on:** March 21, 2007, 02:51:12 PM »

I always thought that little Ready Kilowatt guy was a flamer...too thin and flashy.

tokugawa · « **Reply #48 on:** March 25, 2007, 04:28:44 PM »

A sad story about this student. electricity is a silent lurker. Once when I was 25 or so, I got burnt by an arc flash. Was pulling a welder down a narrow space in a fish plant. Caught the welder on a electrical box and popped the cover off. Was the main shut off for the plant, had three fuses in it about as big around as my forearm and about as long. "Well it came off easy, I guess I'll clip it back on", bad idea- did not notice the three big copper bars sticking out and touched the cover to them. I will never forget the tiny arc spot coming at me and expanding to a fireball as it hit my face. And the sound- was like a load of gravel coming out of a dump truck. It was the first day in weeks it was dry out side so my clothes were dry, and I was standing on wooden duck boards with rubber boots on. No current went thru my body, but it did char my face and melt all my hair. Yikes- all it takes is an instant to change things forever!

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Author Topic: Purdue Student Disappears (Read 5509 times)