One visitor to our campus came upon tragedy Saturday in Campustown. Mitchell Odell, 21, of Cedar Rapids fell four stories from a balcony at 2519 Chamberlain. He suffered multiple blunt force traumas to the head and was later pronounced dead at Mary Greeley Medical Center.

“This is a tragedy, and our sincere sympathy goes out to the family and friends of the young man.” said Luke Jensen, apartment manager for 2519 Chamberlain. He had no further information to give. A similar event occurred at the same apartment complex six years ago when Benjamin Peterson died after falling off a balcony.

Odell was visiting friends on campus this weekend for the Veishea celebration when the event occurred.

“It was an unfortunate and tragic accident,” said Tom Hill, vice president for student affairs. “But while safety is the number one concern for the Veishea committee, they cannot account for what people do at their own apartments.”

He went on to state that Veishea itself was not to blame for this accident.

“All events planned for Veishea are alcohol free,” Hill said. “But this is a good reminder that safety needs to always be on the forefront of our minds during Veishea and not placed on the back burner.”

Jim Robinson, chief investigator for the Ames Police, stated in a news release yesterday that while the investigation is still ongoing, foul play is not suspected. He also said they would need to wait for an autopsy of the body, but he said “to our understanding, it was likely that alcohol was involved.”

Hill later said: “The university is making sure that all people who were affected by this tragedy, students and visitors alike, [are provided] with the help they need through counseling to overcome this tragedy.”