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Cornell student dies while visiting U.Va. over weekend

Cornell University freshman Matthew Pearlstone was found dead Friday morning in the Cauthen residence hall where he had been the guest of a first-year University student.

University Police sergeant Melissa Fielding said the cause of death has yet to be determined.

"Any death is investigated as suspicious," Fielding said, noting that in this case, there were "no outward signs of anything criminal."

Pearlstone's body was transported from the University Medical Center to the medical examiner's office in Richmond for an autopsy, University Health Systems spokesman David Foreman said.

Pearlstone was a computer science and electrical engineering major at Cornell, according to his mother, Rebecca Pearlstone. Matthew Pearlstone's extracurricular activities included running marathons and participating in Cornell's autonomous underwater vehicle team, his mother added.

Pearlstone spent part of the night before he died at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house.

SPE pledge Andrew Van Der Vaart said the fraternity recently met to discuss the events of Thursday night.

During their meeting, SPE brothers said Pearlstone visited their fraternity on Thursday evening and consumed alcohol there. However, Pearlstone drank alcohol he brought in a flask rather than consuming alcohol provided by SPE, Van Der Vaart said.

SPE president Bryant Thomas said the fraternity's largest concern is for the victim and his family.

"My fraternity is cooperating fully with the investigation," Thomas added.

SPE brothers determined that Pearlstone was escorted back to Cauthen by his friend, who is a pledge at SPE, and a SPE brother, according to Van Der Vaart.

"They said they put him in bed and he was still responding," Van Der Vaart said. "They rolled him on his side [and his friend] stayed in the room for 15 minutes" before returning to his own room.

Van Der Vaart added that SPE's regional director visited the fraternity recently and told fraternity brothers that the chapter did not need to be concerned about losing its charter.

"He said it was evident to him that it hadn't been us who were serving him" alcohol, Van Der Vaart said. "We did everything we could."

Thomas said any potential social probation measures will be determined within the University community by the Inter-Fraternity Council.

The fraternity will remain "dry" until a decision is made, Van Der Vaart added.

University spokesperson Carol Wood said the University is working with Cornell administrators following the death.

Wood added that University Police contacted the police in Pearlstone's Missouri hometown so local officials could personally notify Pearlstone's family of the death.

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