Results of a toxicology report have confirmed former SIUC doctoral student Huaijun Meng drowned.

The electrical and computer engineering student from China was found dead in a campus creek in the early morning of April 2 and early reports from the Jackson County coroner suggested Meng drowned, but nothing could be finalized until toxicology results were received.

Sgt. David Stewart of the SIUC police department said officials do not know how Meng ended up in the creek since toxicology reports were all returned with no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system. There was about three feet of water in the creek when Meng was found.

“There was no foreign materials or anything in his toxicology,” Stewart said. “Everything was normal on it.”

Stewart said there was also no evidence to connect Meng’s death with a recent string of homicides on college campuses. Those cases had signs present at the scene, Stewart said, but no similar signs were found at the scene of Meng’s body.

Around 40 male college students have been found dead throughout the Midwest in the past few years, according to the New York Daily News. Each death looked like an accidental drowning, but links such as smiley face graffiti at the scenes have suggested a series of murders.

“There’s nothing that would link what happened here with that recent report that came out,” Stewart said.

Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 268 or [email protected].