Alex Grant Autopsy Results Released

A recently released autopsy of Alexander Grant – the 19-year-old sophomore who was found in a Saratoga Springs, N.Y. creek in March – shows the cause of death to be death by drowning with intoxication and hypothermia as contributing factors.

The report, released by Albany Medical Center Friday, said Grant had a BAC of 0.16 and a low level of marijuana in his system.

According to a report released by the Saratoga Springs Police Department on Friday, Grant drove to Saratoga Springs to meet with a childhood friend who was attending Skidmore College. Grant arrived in the city sometime before 8:30 p.m. on March 5, according to the report, which included a lengthy timeline of Grant's activities from the time of his arrival in the city, until his body was discovered three days later.

After he arrived in Saratoga Springs, Grant, who grew up in Westchester County, picked up a friend in the downtown area of the city, and the two traveled to Skidmore College where Grant and several others drank beer and tequila in one of the dorm rooms.

Shortly before 10:30 p.m., Grant joined others in taking a bus from the Skidmore campus to Clinton Street where they subsequently walked to a party at 146 Church Street.

Grant was last seen dancing at the party between 11:00 and 11:30 p.m., police said.

A friend of Grant's, who lost track of him at the party, sent Grant a text message at 11:37 p.m. The friend - whom police did not identify - sent approximately a half-dozen messages and made a number of phone calls to Grant over the following 12 hours, but there was no response. Grant'scellphone was never recovered.

Surveillance video from the Saratoga Springs Train Station showed Grant stumbling along the tracks between 11:31 and 11:34 p.m. Two hours later, a surveillance video camera captured images of him kicking in a small window at the entrance of an office building and entering the building.

Grant's BC ID was later found in the snow next to the door at the office building, which has a swipe card lock system similar to the system at the entrances to the buildings at BC. Grant was bleeding considerably and appeared to be disoriented or intoxicated, said police, adding that Grant wore only one sock, a long sleeve white shirt and shorts at the time.

The removal of clothing - despite the cold temperature outside - led authorities to suspect that "paradoxical undressing hypothermia" may have been a contributing factor in the young man's death, Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy said.

Police were notified of the Care Lane break-in shortly after 12:30 p.m. on March 6, and they were made aware of the missing 19-year-old at 4:47p.m. that day, when Grant's friend went to police headquarters to report that he had not seen his friend since the previous night.

Grant was subsequently identified as the person observed on the surveillance video, and an intensive search of the area began immediately, police said.

Grant's pants and wallet were discovered by search teams on top of a snow bank near the office building, and footprints were located in the snow along the railroad tracks.

Search teams were sent out again on March 7 and 8, when Grant's body was located submerged in Putnam Creek under an ice shelf in about four feet of water.

Police said Grant apparently became lost and disoriented due to intoxication, as well as suffering from the effects of hypothermia, and he was unable to pull himself to safety after falling into the creek. Foul play is not suspected. Though he was injured, police believe injuries were the result of "stumbling through the woods," rather than from assault.

The Grant family made a public statement in which it is indicated that no narcotics were found in their son's system. However, the investigation was still continuing and more conclusive results were released Friday.

In the statement, Grant's parents said, "Our family remains heartbroken at his passing, but are striving to carry on in a manner which we are sure would be consistent with his wishes. Receiving and coming to grips with the contents of the autopsy is of course an important component of our efforts to put our lives back together."

His parents were disheartened, though, by the lack of students and friends coming forward with information. "The autopsy results fail to answer key questions as to how the young man we loved so much could have sustained the state of disorientation that characterized his last few hours on this earth," the statement read.

"We view it as our solemn responsibility to do everything in our power to better understand this tragedy and will continue our labors in this regard for as long as it takes to obtain the answers to which we are entitled. We remain disappointed and disheartened that some of the people involved in this tragedy have not come forward with the information necessary for us to understand what happened to Alex on the night of March 5, 2011. We continue to implore these individuals, and, indeed anyone else who may have pertinent information, to come forward to either us, or to the Saratoga Springs Police with any assistance, however seemingly small, that might be useful to us in our quest for answers."

In memory of Grant, friends and fraternity brothers at BC have organized the Alex Grant Memorial 5K Road Race, to take place next Saturday, Oct. 8 at 9 a.m. The race will begin outside Gasson Hall, and all proceeds will benefit the Alexander Maxwell Grant Foundation.