The Case of the Drowning Men (29 page)

"We are deeply saddened by the death of Alexander Grant. The untimely passing of a student is a tragic event in the life of any college; this is a grievous loss for two campus communities. Our hearts go out to Mr. Grant’s family and friends. We thank the Saratoga Springs police and all who assisted in the search."
Susan Kress, Acting President of Skidmore College where
the victim
had been visiting

“Not only was he my son, but he was my brother and my best friend. Our hearts are broken and we don’t particularly want them to heal, but we will carry him with us always.”
Kenneth Grant, father
of the deceased

SARATOGA SPRINGS
, NEW YORK - MARCH
8
, 2011
:
“
Police and
rescue
personnel
announced this morning that
they
have found the body of Alexander Grant. The 19-year-old was reported missing
from a Skidmore house party
on Sunday afternoon. His body was
discovered
entangled in underbrush in
the
Putnam Creek which is about four-feet-deep and located approximately a quarter mile from where he was last seen
on video
.
Police say
Grant
’s parents and other
family
members are
currently in Saratoga
searching for him
and ha
ve
been notified.”

- - -

R
elatives
of the late
Alexander Grant
do not contest
the
police
and medical examiner
s
’
ruling that he died by accident
in
early
March of 2011
, nor
does it appear
they
are
investigating
the matter
privately
. An overview of his
b
aff
ling
case is being
included
here only
because,
in view of
video surveillance filmed in the hours
allegedly
p
reced
ing
the
19-year-old’s
drowning
and
the
final police report
, his
disappearance and
death
seems
more than a little
suspicious
.

On
Saturday,
March 5th 2011, Alexander Grant was visiting friend
s
at Skidmore College in upstate New York.
According to reports, h
e arrived at th
at
campus
around 8:30
in the evening
and
two hours
later
departed
with his group to
attend
a couple of
student
house part
ies
being held for Spring Break
in
the
nearby
resort
village of
Saratoga Springs.
The parties
were separate
events
but
on the same street
, so
Grant and his friends
had taken a campus
bus
downtown
to walk to
them
.
They arrived on foot
to
the first
party
at
approximately
10:30
PM and
left for
the second
one
, hosted by
Skidmore lacrosse
players
,
very
soon
thereafter.

A
ccording to the Saratoga Springs Police Department, a
t approximately 11
:50
that same night
they
received
a number of
noise
complaints concerning both
house
parties and arrived to break
up the festivities at half past midnight
.
T
he responding officers state
d
they “had a difficult time controlling the unruly crowd and dispersing the partiers” but
did
not
elaborat
e
beyond th
is
or disclos
e
what means
they
’d
resort
ed
to
for
scatter
ing
the
m
.
Police also said they made n
o arrests
and that, once
d
isbanded, the
revelers
then
spilled out onto the streets and headed downtown or back to
their
campus.

The next day
(Sunday)
,
in the early morning hours of
March 6th of 2011,
an employee at a medical office
near
the downtown section
called the
SSPD
to report a possible break
-
in at the facility
. When police arrived
to check it out
, they
noted
only
a small broken window with a considerable amount of blood close by
it
and
bloodstains
in the lobby
. O
ther than this
,
it appeared
nothing had been stolen.

In
re
v
iewing the
video surveillance
tape
, they
reported
that
a
young
man
,
wearing
only a
long-sleeve
tee shirt,
boxer
shorts and one sock,
had
enter
ed
the premises
through the
small
window
at about 1:15 in the morning and stay
ed
in the lobby area for another hour
or so
.
T
he intruder was also observed to be bleeding at the ankle
and “
acting
disoriented
,
”
walking into the walls
, stumbling,
and
falling
down
.

Later
that
very
same day
, a
t around five in the evening
of March 6th
, Alexander Grant’s friends at Skidmore College
also
called the S
aratoga Springs police,
concerned
because
their
guest
had not returned to the dorm from the night before and that
he hadn’t answered any of
the texts and
voice-
messages they’d
been leaving
for him
,
either
.

According to police reports, Grant’s
friends
informed
the SSPD that he had gotten separated from the
group
at the last party
they
’d attended
and estimated
it
may have been
as early as 11:30 PM
since the last time anyone
remembered seeing
him
.
The police
said
they
then
quickly made
a
connection between the earlier break
-
in and the missing young man and
immediately
organized
an all out, high tech
search for Grant in the woods
surrounding
the medical office bui
lding
as well as
along the nearby railroad tracks
,
only
calling off th
at e
ffort
just before midnight because of a major
developing
snowstorm.

The massive search for Alexander Grant
then
resumed
once more
on
Monday
March 7th
,
beginning
in the
morning
and lasting
un
til
sunset when
over a foot of new
ly fallen
snow
once again
drove
the
rescuers back.

Tuesday, March 8th, they
were
out
searching again and by noon had at last located
the young man’s body submerged in a
shallow
creek a little over a mile from the house party
the SSPD had raided
.

A
n
autopsy
performed in Albany, New York
at Albany Medical Center
determined Grant had died of
asphyxia and hypothermia
.
T
he toxicology report would take
about
another month
to deliver
, the county
medical
examiner said
, and would
hopefully
shed more light on the
reasons, if any, for the strange
event
s that led to the young man’s drowning
.

Grant’s cellphone was never recovered.

While they waited on the toxicology report
, Saratoga Springs
police
say they
began
investigating
the circumstances that led to Alexander Grant’s death and
attempted
to learn the victim’s whereabouts during the hours he could not be accounted for.

Th
at
investigation
was
stymied
, the
police
claim, by the
refusal
of partygoers and other witnesses to
talk to the
m
.
They said
everyone involved
, from
Grant’s group
of friends to
the part
y planners
themselves
,
had immediately
hired
attorneys and refused
to answer
even written requests
from
the
SSPD
investigators
.
About th
is
annoying
impasse, t
he
Chief of Police
publicly
declared
,
“I can tell you we’re not getting a lot of cooperation
.
”