The Case of the Drowning Men (30 page)

E
ven Grant’s family, who
had been
holding up in th
is
tragedy
remarkably
well
,
and were only seeking answers not retribution
,
expressed their frustration with the wall of silence
. They sent an
open
letter
to the
press
stating
they were,
“
distraught at the unfortunate span of critical hours that lapsed” and “
we don’t believe we’ve been told everything we need to know about this by Alex’s friends
.
”

By April, in
hopes of ending
th
is
standoff
, i
mmunity from prosecution
for
any and
all
minor offenses
that might be
related to the case
was actually
being
offered
by the authorities
in exchange for
information
about the night Grant
had gone
missing
.

And s
till, out of fear of the police
,
or loathing, nobody
was willing to come
forward.

To make matters worse, r
esults from the postmortem toxicology test were also not forthcoming
,
and, as the stalemate continued
well
into
August of
2011, there was still no
official
word on whether Alexander
Grant
had
had
any drugs and alcohol in his system that might
serve
to explain his bizarre behavior captured on tape the night of March 5th.

A spokesman for the SSPD
, when
quizz
ed
about this unusual delay said he
could
furnish
, “no answers as to why it might be”
and
an
other county official
impli
ed
that there
’
d been
a
“
surprising” lack of results
in the test
, such that
it
was
possible
Grant’s
sample
had been
resubmitted to another lab for
a
more extensive battery of test
s
.

Finally,
on September 21st 2011, Saratoga County officials ended the suspense
,
announcing that Grant’s
second and
final
toxicology report
reveal
ed no drugs or narcotics had contributed to his death. The
meager 0.11 blood/alcohol content “raises more questions than answers,” the District Attorney
conced
ed, adding
that
, “we still don’t know what affected his body to such a significant degree
, which then led to the circumstances that caused his death
.”

Grant’s
parents
too
, although
hugely
relieved that drugs were not responsible for
their son’s
demise, agreed that it still left them in the dark about “how the young man we loved so much could have sustained the state of disorientation that characterized his last few hours on this earth.”

The
SSPD’s
release
to the public
of their
investigative
summary
nine days later
on
September 30th 2011
would add yet
two
more
puzzling pieces to
an
already
boggling
picture
of the Grant disappearance and drowning
.

In
this
press release
,
possibly the longest of its kind in history,
the
Saratoga
Springs
police
inexplicably
up
ped
the victim’s
BAC
finding
from the 0.11
level
previously
reported by
Albany
C
ounty to 0.16
instead.
The
y
also
newly
refer
ence
d
video surveillance
they
say they
uncovered
which showed
Grant
wandering around the
downtown
train depot in a state of confusion at 11:30 PM, the night he
first
went missing
.

However, t
hey do not explain why this
important documentation
wasn’t offered
sooner
or why it was never before mentioned
. Nor why Grant would have left a party without his friends
which
he’d only been at for less than a half hour.

“
The case will remain open
,
”
the Saratoga Springs police
stated
, “in the hope that someone or some item of evidence will provide the critical information needed to complete the investigation.” The
SSPD’s
entire
press brief
on the Grant incident
reads as follows:

“Saratoga Springs Police have finished examining the active leads in the investigation into the death of Alexander Grant during the early morning hours of March 6, 2011. A summary of the investigation is below. Much of the information contained herein has been released on prior occasions.

“On March 5, 2011 Alexander Grant, 19-years-of-age from Briarcliff Manor, NY who is a student at Boston College, travels to Saratoga Springs during his spring break to meet with friends who are attending Skidmore College. He arrives in Saratoga Springs sometime before 8:30 PM, picks up a friend in the downtown area and travels to Skidmore College. He plans to stay with a friend in one of the dorms on campus.

“Between his arrival in Saratoga Springs and 10:28 PM when he boards a bus on the Skidmore Campus, Grant and several others are drinking beer and tequila in one of the dorm rooms. At 10:28 PM, Grant and the group of people he is with board a bus at Skidmore and then is dropped off at the intersection of Clinton and Van Dam Streets.

“They then walk to a party at 146 Church Street where Grant is reported to be last seen dancing with a female between 11:00 and 11:30 PM. Two female Skidmore students are identified as having contact with Grant at the party however both report that Grant was only there for a short time before he went to another part of the house and they never saw him again. Grant
’
s friend loses track of him at the party and assumes that Grant has met up with someone else and that they would re-connect at a later time. His friend sends approximately 6 text messages to Grant between 11:37 PM and noon on March 6 asking where he is and giving Grant the address of the dorm room. All of the people who report seeing Grant at the party state that they left the party when the police arrived to break it up at about 12:30 AM.

“Surveillance video at the train station on Station Lane off of West Avenue in Saratoga Springs shows Alexander Grant walking to the front of the building from Station Lane at 11:31 PM. He is alone, fully clothed and appears to be staggering as he walks. Grant is observed walking around the building to the train tracks behind and then is last seen heading north along the tracks towards the Church Street overpass. No other people or vehicles are observed coming or going from the train station. He is last seen at the train station at 11:34 PM.

“At 1:33 AM surveillance video at 3 Care Lane captures Alexander Grant kicking in a small 3×3 window at the entrance to the building. He squeezes inside and is now observed to be wearing only one sock, a long sleeve white shirt and shorts. He appears to have already fallen outside, as there is dirt on his back upon his entry to the building. Grant has cut himself and is bleeding considerably. He never leaves the lobby area or attempts to break into any of the offices. He appears disoriented and/or intoxicated. He is stumbling into the walls and repeatedly loses his balance. He eventually staggers out of the building once again at 2:11 AM and is last seen walking away from the building. Any blood trail that may have been left by Grant at that time was washed away by heavy rains during the day on the 6th, prior to police being notified of the break-in at 12:36 PM.

“Police are notified of the break-in at 12:36 PM on the 6th. A brief search of the area for evidence related to the burglary is conducted as police have no missing person report until 4:47 PM when Grant
’
s friend and another student arrive at Police Headquarters and report that Grant has not been seen since the party on Church Street. No additional evidence of the burglary is located during the initial search.

“Grant is quickly identified as the person observed on the Care Lane surveillance video and an intensive search of the area is immediately begun. An approaching severe winter storm reduces the amount of time police and fire personnel will be able to search on the night of the 6th. New York State Forest Rangers are unable to respond during the night due to the storm and New York State Police Aviation is unable support the effort that night. Thermal imaging units were employed without success. The Saratoga County Reverse 911 system was activated, reaching 7,000 landlines within a half-mile radius of Care Lane generating any leads or reported sightings.

“Small search teams begin searching the area to the north and west of the Care Lane area, along the railroad tracks, and including the buildings at Sunnyside Gardens. One search team located Grant
’
s pants and wallet on top of a snow bank between the Care Lane building and the railroad tracks. Another search team located footprints in the snow along the railroad tracks. There was only one set of footprints that traveled north along the tracks occasionally entering the woods, circling dense brush and then returning to the tracks. One set of tracks leading into the woods towards Putnam Creek was observed and a visual check of the creek was made without success. The tracks were lost and no other tracks were observed further north. By this time the storm had become too severe for further searching and all search teams were called back to the command post.

“On the morning of March 7th, an intensive search with additional manpower was begun at about 10:30 AM with improving weather conditions. Searching continued all day on the 7th until dark. Search teams again were sent out on March 8th at 9:45 AM and at 10:43 AM, Saratoga Springs Fire Department personnel located Alexander Grant
’
s body submerged in Putnam Creek under an ice shelf in about four feet of water approximately 30 yards from where the last set of foot prints were seen during the search on the night of the 6th.

“Chief of Police Christopher Cole and Public Safety Commissioner Richard Wirth made notification of
the recovery of Alexander Grant’s
body to his parents.

“The body was turned over to Coroner John Demartino and Dr. Michael Sikiricka at Albany Medical Center performed an autopsy on March 9.

“The cause of death is officially listed as asphyxia due to drowning with contributing factors of intoxication and probable hypothermia. At the time of his death Alexander Grant had a blood alcohol content of 0.16%. A low level of THC (marijuana) was also detected. Injuries sustained by Mr. Grant were consistent with someone who had been stumbling through the woods with no indication of injuries consistent with an assault observed. As noted by Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy previously, two toxicology tests were run with several hundred drugs being screened for. Other than the alcohol and marijuana, no other drugs were detected in Grant
’
s system at the time of his death. The known facts of the case tend to support the conclusion made regarding the cause of death. Alexander Grant apparently became lost and disoriented due to his level of intoxication and suffering from the effects of hypothermia tragically fell into Putnam creek and was unable to pull himself to safety.

“Police do not suspect foul play in the death of Alexander Grant. However, police have tried unsuccessfully to interview the occupants of the 146 Church Street apartment. With the exception of one of the occupants, who police spoke with last week, all have decline written requests by police to their attorneys to make them available for interviews. The friend that Alexander Grant had come to visit and planned to stay with while in Saratoga Springs has also decided not to speak with police any further and has obtained legal counsel.