CHICAGO, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The Cook County medical examiner has ruled the death of a missing Illinois Institute of Technology student was an accident.
The medical examiner's office said Benjamin Collen, 19, Lincolnwood, Ill., died of asphyxia due to inhalation of carbon dioxide from a canister, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.
Collen's body was discovered Saturday in a storage room at his fraternity house on Chicago's South Side, eight days after he was reported missing.
Police, fraternity and university officials refused to comment on whether the Alpha Sigma Phi house was searched when Collen was reported missing, the Tribune said.
Collen was a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering at IIT. He also was a ROTC cadet.
Police told the Tribune inhaling carbon dioxide to get high is a less common form of "huffing," which involves household chemicals such as glue and paint.
