WEST LAFAYETTE Ind.
A Purdue University student fatally shocked last winter in a high-voltage campus utility room entered that room through a door with a faulty lock that might have prevented it from being securely latched, a consultant concluded.
Purdue hired Rimkus Consulting Group Inc., which specializes in accident reconstruction, for its investigation into the death of Wade Steffey. The 19-year-old from Bloomington vanished Jan. 13 after trying to enter Owen Hall to retrieve a coat he had left there before attending a fraternity party.
Police and volunteers conducted several massive searches for the freshman honor student, but Steffey’s body was not found until March 19 in Owen Hall’s utility room.
Among its findings in a report released Monday, the consultant found that Steffey, who had been drinking alcohol, was able to enter the utility room because its exterior door was “most probably not securely latched, or it was unlocked, at the time of the incident.”
Although Purdue staffers indicated that they believed they locked the door every time they had entered the electrical room for maintenance, the report says consultants found the door did not lock securely unless it was closed forcefully.
“Based on our investigation and testing, the exterior door to the electrical vault was most probably not adequately secured,” the report found.
