The New Mexico medical investigator's office determined a UW-Madison student found burned to death in Las Cruces, N.M., on Nov. 21, 2007, committed suicide, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported Monday.
The body of Michael J. Mowers, 22, was discovered by a local resident at the edge of a concrete culvert that led to a canal.
Shortly after the death was reported, the Las Cruces Police Department identified Mowers by matching his fingerprints in a national database, and asked for assistance to determine why the student had traveled so far from home - about 1,400 miles from Madison.
According to the Sun-News, the Office of the Medical Investigator's autopsy report ruled Mowers set himself on fire with flammable chemicals found on his body.
John Lucas, a university spokesperson, said Mowers was a sophomore who enrolled in fall 2003, as well as the spring and fall of 2007.
It's a terrible tragedy, either way, no matter what the circumstance is, but we hope that this information provides his family with a little bit more closure and a little bit more certainty of what actually happened to him out there. They're in our thoughts and prayers,"" Lucas said.
