A Wisconsin graduate student who disappeared while walking home from a bar was found to have died in an accidental drowning in the Mississippi River, according to a report released Wednesday by the local medical examiner.
Eliotte Heinz, 22, whose mysterious disappearance after a night out with friends in La Crosse on July 20 triggered a frantic four-day search, had alcohol in her system but no drugs, officials told People magazine.
The La Crosse County Medical Examiner’s Office reported that there was "no gross evidence of trauma."
According to the medical examiner, 22-year-old Eliotte Heinz died as a result of an accidental drowning. La Crosse Police Department
A toxicology report found that Eliotte Heinz had alcohol in her system but no drugs. Facebook / Eliotte Heinz
Heinz, a mental health counseling student at Viterbo College, was last caught on camera near the waterfront at 3:20 a.m. — about 50 minutes after she left Bronco’s Bar in downtown La Crosse.
Her disappearance left police puzzled and her heartbroken parents struggling to stay hopeful, saying they were desperately "trying to stay positive."
Heinz’s disappearance in July set off a frantic, four-day search. Viterbo University
Her body was later discovered in the river near Brownsville, Minnesota, showing no obvious signs of foul play.
The student’s blood-alcohol level measured 0.193 — more than twice Wisconsin’s legal driving limit, WEAU reported.
“Eliotte’s walk home is finished. Unfortunately, our family’s walk down this new hard path is just beginning,” her family said in July. “We love you, Eliotte.”
