Faulty Lock Led to the Death of Purdue Student

According to a report at the wsbt website, the room where a Purdue student was killed had a faulty lock on it. A student at Purdue University was shocked to death during the winter. He entered a utility room on campus, and the lock was not working properly.

The company that looked into the investigation was the Rimkus Consulting Group Inc., which works in accident reconstruction. This company looked into the death of Purdue student, Wade Steffey. This 19 year old Purdue student, simply disappeared on January 13. Headlines all over the state of Indiana, carried the story of the mysterious disappearance of Wade.

Police, along with many volunteers, looked all over the area for the missing student. Even though several searches were done, nothing was found. The body of Wade was finally discovered on March 19, in the Owen Hall utility room.

A report just released on Monday, also revealed that Wade was legally drunk when the accident happened. Wade probably got into the room because the door was most likely improperly latched or unlocked.

The staff that works at Purdue said they thought the door was locked properly, every time it had been used. The room is used for electrical maintenance. The report went on to say that investigators discovered the door only locked properly when done "forcefully".

The consultant on the case said the utility room and the equipment inside were all within government regulations. Two other buildings were looked at, and it was discovered the locks on these doors, were in the following described condition. The locks were in a condition that "prevented the bolts from fully engaging every time they were closed and locked", according to the wsbt report.

The exact blood level content of alcohol in Steffey's body that night, was not revealed. It was only revealed that his alcohol level was above the legal limit of .08. This information was brought out in another report from the Tippecanoe County Coroner. Wade was able to get into the utility room by climbing over or going through a railing, and into a concrete location which is four feet under the level of the ground.

Purdue's executive vice president and treasurer said, based on the wsbt report, "We now have a more complete picture of what led up to this unfortunate event. We may never know, however, exactly what happened or what motivated Wade Steffey to enter the electrical vault."

Sources
"Report: Lock Faulty to Purdue Utility Room Where Student Died"