The unexpected passing of junior William Gates on March 23 was announced to the University community through an e-mail sent the following day by Student and Campus Life Vice President Thomas Gustafson.

 “We do not have a cause of death, and the pending toxicology results from the medical examiner could take up to six to eight weeks to get that kind of report back,” Deputy Chief of Burlington Police Michael Schirling said.

“The investigation is continuing,” Schirling said. “The cause of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner’s office, not by police. So we are conducting investigation in conjunction with the medical examiner’s office and being handled as a suspicious death at the moment.
Gates, a Molecular Genetics major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was found dead by his Hyde Street apartment roommates on Monday morning according to police.

While officially, the matter is still under investigation, Hyde Street residents have heard that the death possibly resulted from a combination of OxyContin and alcohol.