Des Moines Register
04-05-07
Police try to sort out student's last hours
Autopsy indicates Abel Bolanos drowned, but questions remain
By LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU
Ames, Ia. - While an autopsy concluded Wednesday that Iowa State University student Abel Bolanos died of accidental drowning early Saturday, police continued to dig deeper into the muddled timeline of Bolanos' last moments in
Ames.
Meanwhile, friends mourned Bolanos' death publicly on central campus at a candlelight vigil of remembrance Wednesday evening and filled a tribute Web site for him on Facebook with memories about his time at ISU.
The case is still under investigation, though police have said no signs have indicated foul play was involved in the death.
Iowa Deputy State Medical Examiner Dennis Klein said authorities are trying to determine how much alcohol was in Bolanos' system, which will show up in subsequent blood tests that won't be known for two to four weeks. Police say they believe that Bolanos had been drinking Friday night and early Saturday, and that alcohol contributed to his disappearance.
Klein said the autopsy was able to rule out any signs of trauma associated with the drowning.
ISU Police Cmdr. Eugene Deisinger said it is premature to say whether the hosts of the party where Bolanos was drinking will be held criminally liable for reports that Bolanos was drinking underage.
"Where that will go ... there are too many pathways to comment now," he said. "It will be largely dependent on the findings of the medical examiner."
Deisinger and ISU historians said they could not remember a drowning at Lake
LaVerne in recent history. The lake, located just west of the Iowa State Memorial
Union, has been a campus landmark since before World War I.
Investigators are also trying to sort through inconsistencies in the timeline regarding the last hours of Bolanos' life.

Deisinger said friends who last saw Bolanos recalled him leaving an off-campus party between 4 and 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
However, his access card was used an hour before that, at 3:23 a.m. at the
Wallace-Wilson Commons, which is next to his dormitory at Wallace Hall. His access card was denied at that location, because the area was unavailable to students, authorities said.
"We have not reconciled how he got there before being seen leaving the party,"
Deisinger said.
Another point of confusion among friends of Bolanos is how he ended up in Lake
LaVerne, which is more than four blocks away from Wallace Hall.
"Every time he parties, he doesn't go towards Campustown," said Jordan Florke, an ISU sophomore from Council Bluffs, who was a friend of Bolanos. "He would go to the dorms."
The morning he left the party it had just started to rain heavily in Ames, and the temperature was about 55 degrees, according to weather data. Bolanos was wearing only jeans and a shirt at the time of disappearance, police said.
Despite confusion over the timeline of his disappearance, Deisinger said nothing in the investigation has pointed to foul play.
Investigators found Bolanos' wallet with him when he was recovered from the lake, and the last activity on his credit and debit cards was on Friday, before he had disappeared.
Student confusion over the death has also centered on the fact that the Polar
Plunge, an annual fundraiser at which students jump into a chilly Lake LaVerne, occurred Saturday - after Bolanos had last been seen by friends.
About 200 people jumped into the north side of the lake, the opposite side of where he was found Tuesday.
"Everyone was in the water," said ISU senior Justin Atwood, who is 22 and from
Collins. "I'm surprised he wasn't located sooner."
Reporter Lisa Rossi can be reached at (515) 232-2383 or lrossi@dmreg.com