According to a statement from Mercer County prosecutor Angelo Onofri and Kenneth Strother Jr., the school’s assistant vice president for public safety, her body was discovered on the facility’s grounds at around 1 p.m., behind the tennis courts.
The cause and manner of death will be determined by an autopsy performed by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner, according to the statement. Her death “does not appear suspicious or criminal in nature” and there were “no signs of injury.”
The university described the death as an “unthinkable tragedy” in a statement.
The university said, “Our hearts go out to her family, her friends, and the many others who knew and loved her.”
“We are arranging a gathering for students to remember Misrach together.”
According to her brother, Ewunetie’s family claimed earlier on Thursday that they had been “kept in the dark” by the authorities. He added that they are desperate for information and are trying to put together a timeline of her whereabouts.
Six days after Ewunetie, 20, vanished, university officials stepped up their search for the junior.
Universe Ewunetie, her oldest brother, said that her family was very worried that she had missed a meeting about her citizenship on Saturday.
Before the body was found on Thursday, he spoke with CNN by phone and referred to the prosecutor’s office and campus authorities, saying, “There’s no constant update or interaction with us.” We’re being kept in the dark, really.
Authorities reportedly told Universe Ewunetie that the investigation would take some time. We don’t have time, so that’s one thing we don’t have, he said.
A Princeton Univerity student who went missing last week has been found dead, Mercer County and university officials confirmed Thursday. https://t.co/zaREMzAaWR
— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) October 20, 2022
CNN has asked the prosecutor’s office and the university’s public safety department for their thoughts on Universe Ewunetie’s claims.
Her brother describes her as having a “beautiful soul.”
Bloodhounds were used by law enforcement to follow Ewunetie’s scent from the dorm to Lake Carnegie on campus of Princeton. As a result, investigators were searching the lake and the neighborhood.
Earlier on Thursday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy tweeted that he had spoken to several law enforcement agencies about the missing student.
Later, Murphy tweeted that the news of her passing left him “heartbroken.”
Our thoughts are with her loved ones, including her family, friends, and classmates, he wrote.
Ewunetie’s brother, praised her for having a “precious, beautiful soul,” being a “great listener,” and caring about people “beyond herself.”
Family members “were not particularly happy.” Despite the fact that Ewunetie chose Princeton over her Ohio family home, they “didn’t want to discourage her,” according to the brother who, along with other family members, was posting flyers about his missing sister on the New Jersey campus. He said it was a “nightmare I could not wake up from.”
According to Universe Ewunetie, their father tried calling their sister on Friday but was unsuccessful, so he assumed she was otherwise occupied. Calls and texts started to be answered by Saturday, but there was still no response. By Sunday, calls were going directly to voicemail.
Her roommates, according to her family, were able to recall seeing her sleeping in her dorm room on Friday morning.
The last seen on Friday was Ewunetie.
According to the university, Ewunetie was last seen near a residential building on the New Jersey campus at around three in the morning.
Her disappearance was reported by the university on Monday, and anyone with information was urged to get in touch with the Department of Public Safety. In a Wednesday morning update to the community, the university noted that there was an increased law enforcement presence on campus that included the use of helicopters, drones, and “watercraft.”
The president of one of the school’s 11 eating clubs told the student newspaper The Daily Princetonian that Ewunetie was volunteering there on Thursday night. Ewunetie was performing housekeeping duties at the Terrace Club while live music was being played, according to student leaders who spoke to the newspaper.
Misrach offered to fill in for one of our members who had initially signed up for duty on Thursday night because they couldn’t make it to the event. The other members on duty left for the night after the club closed and all of the duty obligations had been completed, the club reported to the newspaper.
In a statement provided to CNN on Thursday, club president Alexander Moravcsik said that Misrach “was a beloved member of the Terrace community and a kind, loving soul.”
The club is in mourning following this terrible tragedy, and Moravcsik’s statement read, “Our hearts are with her family, who must be going through the unimaginable.”
The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland said that Ewunetie had gone to high school at Villa Angela-St. Joseph.
Misrach Ewunetie, a former honor student and member of the class of 2020, was discovered dead today on the campus of Princeton University, according to Deacon James Armstrong. “The Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School community is profoundly saddened at the news of Misrach Ewunetie’s passing,” he said.
The loss of Ewunetie, a student in the class of 2020, was described as “devastating” by the nonprofit organization Minds Matter Cleveland.
The group declared, “We hold her family and all others who loved her close to our hearts.”
