Confirming the worst suspicions of the hundreds working for his return, the body of UW- La Crosse student Jared Dion, 21, was recovered Thursday morning from the Mississippi River.
The LaCrosse Area Fire Department and Dive and Rescue Team discovered Dion 30 feet from the shore of Riverside Park, located a few blocks west from the downtown bar area where Dion went missing around 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Although there was no evidence of foul play, an autopsy was conducted Thursday afternoon, according to Lieutenant Bob Berndt of the LaCrosse Police Department.
\It's not the news we expected to hear,"" UW-La Crosse University Relations Director Cary Heyer said. ""Until Jared's body was found, there was no reason to believe it would be anything other than good news.""
Heyer added the UW-La Crosse student response to Jared's disappearance had been overwhelming. Hundreds of students made buttons, posted flyers, patrolled neighborhoods and participated Wednesday night in a candlelight ""Celebration of Hope"" service to aid in finding Dion.
Police efforts focused on Riverside Park Wednesday after a suspected baseball cap of Dion's, found in the park over the weekend, was turned in according to Lieutenant Berndt.
""In the area where Riverside Park is, you don't wade in. It's like 18 feet deep,"" he said. ""It's a main channel of the Mississippi.""
In recent years, several other young men have disappeared from the downtown bar area, later to have their bodies surface in the Mississippi. These men were highly intoxicated, but unrelated to the case of Dion, according to Burndt.
UW- Madison administrators, recently having dealt with the disappearance of UW-Madison sophomore Audrey Seiler, shared techniques they used to alert the public with UW- La Crosse personnel. One of the techniques included sending a mass e-mail to students at other UW campuses as well as their own, according to UW-Madison Spokesperson John Lucas.
UW-Madison Associate Dean of Students Lori Berquam said she doubted that the outcome of the Seiler case had an influence on the way Dion's disappearance was handled in La Crosse.
""I'm sure they took this as a very serious case and followed up on it,"" she said. ""Our hearts go out to Jared's family and friends. All of this is just tragic.\
