Chicago Daily Herald, IL
04-04-07
Teen’s body found in lake
Iowa State student was from Rolling Meadows
By Russell Lissau and Ed Fanselow
Daily Herald Staff Writers
The body of a missing Rolling Meadows teenager was
pulled Tuesday from a lake on the Iowa State University
campus where he was a student, authorities said.
The body was identified as Abel Bolanos, 19, a 2005
Rolling Meadows High School graduate who was a
sophomore at the university in Ames.
“We all had hoped for a different outcome,” university
spokeswoman Annette Hacker said.
An autopsy will be conducted today by the assistant
state medical examiner, Hacker said. Although the cause
of Bolanos’ death was not immediately known, there were
no obvious signs of foul play, she said.
The teen was reported missing Sunday. He last was seen
early Saturday at a house party about a block west of
campus, authorities said.
Fellow partygoers reported Bolanos was intoxicated when
he left between 4 and 4:30 a.m., university police
Cmdr. Gene Deisinger said.
University police, local and state agencies and student
volunteers searched Ames for Bolanos. Bolanos’ father,
sister, brother-in-law and his brother-in-law’s
relatives traveled to Iowa to assist in the search,
Hacker said.
Divers searching for Bolanos found him underwater about
3:40 p.m. in Lake LaVerne, a few blocks north of where
he last was seen, Hacker said.
Authorities publicly confirmed the body was Bolanos’
shortly before 11 p.m. Students were “devastated” as
word of Bolanos’ death spread across campus late
Tuesday night, Hacker said.
“It’s always hard to lose a member of a community, and
Abel was a member of the Iowa State family,” she said.
Bolanos’ death remains under investigation, police
said.
Before enrolling at Iowa State, Bolanos played football
and wrestled at Rolling Meadows, said former classmate
and neighbor Eric Ventura. He also played the guitar
and especially enjoyed playing rock ’n’ roll music,
Ventura said.
“He wasn’t in a band; he just liked playing,” said
Ventura, of Elgin.
Ventura remembered Bolanos as a friendly guy who was
“kind to everybody.”
Memorials and vigils are expected today at Iowa State,
Hacker said.
Body: Friends remember student as friendly guy