Body of Davis '10 Found In Mount Holyoke Range
Missing MIT Student's Body Tentatively Identified
A body found in the Mt. Holyoke Range on May 26 has been identified as missing student Ryan M. Davis '10. He was 20. Davis had been missing since March 31, and was last seen on the Mt. Holyoke College campus.
Davis was found in Skinner State Park, a 390-acre area on the top of Mount Holyoke, and was identified by clothing and "articles found with the body," according to an article in The Republican. According to The Daily Hampshire Gazette, his body was discovered by hikers at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, May 26 and was roughly 50 yards off a trail.
Foul play has been ruled out in Davis' death, although a final ruling as to cause of death will not be made until an autopsy has been completed, according to the Boston Herald.
Davis withdrew from classes at MIT on March 13, one day after an incident at East Campus, in which police responded to the discovery of an unknown device which was releasing chlorine gas in East Campus' basement hobby shop. According to criminal docket filings obtained by The Tech, the discovery prompted a response from the Cambridge Fire Department, the bomb squad, and MIT's Environmental, Health, and Safety Office.
Davis, who allegedly set up the device as part of a chemistry experiment, was questioned by campus police and consented to a search of his room. The police discovered an assortment of drugs and chemicals in Davis' room, including "several liters" of a hallucinogen analogous to LSD and five grams of cocaine that Davis stated he brought back from a trip to Colombia.
Davis traveled to Colombia at the end of his senior year of high school at Phillips Academy Andover, according to The Phillipian. Brendan Sullivan, a friend of Davis, told The Phillipian that Davis sold all of his possessions over the course of his senior year to pay for transportation to Colombia. According to that newspaper, Davis hoped to "teach English for the rest of his life" in Colombia, but was deported by the Colombian government at his parents' request.
Davis was arrested on Thursday, March 15, charged with two misdemeanor counts of possession of a class B controlled substance, one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, and one felony count of possession of a class B controlled substance with intent to distribute.
After posting $300 cash bail, Davis supposedly went to stay with an ex-girlfriend at Mt. Holyoke College before disappearing on March 31. Davis left a note on the Mt. Holyoke campus, according to The Republican, that caused concern for his safety.
A statewide search started, with police scouring the mountains and wooded areas around Mt. Holyoke College. The search was called off on April 7, with no signs of Davis. According to available logs, Davis (or someone with his Athena credentials) logged on to an Athena quickstation in Lobby 16 for 10 minutes on May 6, 2007. He did not show up to the Cambridge courthouse for his pre-trial hearing on May 9. For more information, including court records and booking information, visit http://www-tech.mit.edu/V127/N17/.