The toxicology report for Pravin Varughese came back Wednesday with no signs of alcohol or drugs in his system. Varughese family attorney James Vachachira confirmed the Carbondale Police Department informed the mother of the toxicology report’s findings. 

Varughese was reported missing Feb. 13 after leaving a party on the 600 block of West College Street with an acquaintance he recently met. His body was found Feb. 18 in a wooded area in the 1400 block of East Main Street near Buffalo Wild Wings.

Police Chief Jody O’Guinn said during a press conference Feb. 18, Varughese was unable to give the acquaintance, identified as a male from Harrisburg in his 20s, his address and exited the vehicle after an argument.

The autopsy found Varughese, who was found in only a t-shirt and jeans, succumbed to hypothermia overnight as temperatures fell to as low as 6 degrees.

Pulaski County Coroner Bryan Curry said alcohol would be present in a person’s system – specifically the vitreous fluid of the eye or the urine – after succumbing to hypothermia, albeit in lower concentrations.

Since the initial press conference, several different accounts of the story have come to light. Illinois State Police confirmed a patrolling trooper in the area noticed the vehicle Varughese and the acquaintance were travelling in pulled over to the side of the road Feb. 13.

After learning of the altercation, the officer searched the nearby wooded area for a short time. When the acquaintance declined to file a police report, the officer left the scene, according to state police.

O’Guinn said the CPD was not notified of the trooper’s contact by ISP.

Rachel Elbe, a junior from Jacksonville studying graphic design, was at the party with Varughese. She said she was not surprised with the report’s findings because she told police from the beginning Varughese only consumed a small amount of alcohol the night he went missing.

“They said the whole time this was a drug case and obviously he had no drugs in his system,” she said. “So why would it be a drug case?”

Elbe also said Varughese was going to Stix on the Strip – only six blocks from the party – instead of his home in University Village.

Elbe said she was skeptical of the reason police are withholding information after formally stating the death was not being treated as a homicide.

“They’re not releasing them to the public until after the investigation is done is what they said,” she said. “I’m guessing they’re doing it because they’re thinking, ‘Oh, we were wrong and we kind of look like idiots.’ That’s my guess.”

Carbondale Police Lt. Corey Kemp said he could not comment as to whether the toxicology report would change the focus of the case because the investigation is still ongoing.

Seth Richardson can be reached at [email protected]