Posted on 04/17/2007 2:25:41 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
Authorities have identified the body pulled Monday from Goose Lake in White Bear Lake, Minn. as Nicholas Rossini, a West Point cadet who was last seen in December.
Rossini, 21, left his family's home sometime in the morning of Dec. 17 and had not been seen since. He was a first-year cadet at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point and his family feared he was despondent following a drunken-driving arrest the day before.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiners Office has determined that Rossini drowned accidentally. The examiner reports there was no trauma to the body nor "any reason to believe this was anything but a tragic accident".
Goose Lake is located near Highway 61 and Hoffman Road in White Bear Lake, which is less than two miles from the home where a Rossini was last seen.
Rossini was home for Christmas break when he went missing. After he missed Christmas, his family hoped he would show up on Jan. 2 for his flight back to West Point. That ticket went unused.
Rossini was a star student and athlete at White Bear Lake High School. He spent a year at St. John's University before enlisting in the Army.
He was spotted by West Point recruiters while still in basic training, and had maintained a 3.5 grade-point average at the elite academy -- putting him in the top 50 of the 1,000-member freshman class.
In December, authorities walked the shores and had flown over three lakes near the Rossini home without finding signs of a fall-through. Dogs haven't picked up any scents and there's been no activity in Rossini's financial accounts, e-mail or cell phone.
While authorities believe this was an accident toxicology reports won't be back for at least another two weeks.
So wait a minute, am I to assume that he’s been in the lake since December??? And didn’t find him for 4 months???
That’s the story. The ice was very thin around here until after Christmas. If one falls in, the water is cold enough to kill you in a very short time.
I live next to a river, and all the bodies come up around Easter, give or take a couple weeks. Every year, there's a few.
Ahh, the story wasn’t very clear. Like most media stories these days, they sound like they were written by 5th graders.
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