Son dies from hypothermia, Foster City family wants answers
FOSTER CITY, Calif. - A family in Foster City is grieving and looking for answers months after their son died of hypothermia while at college in Illinois. The family says he was less than 300 feet from where he went missing but say campus police never found him during their search.
Finding out that your child has died is a parent’s worst nightmare. The Dhawan family believes their son’s death could have been prevented, and they still want answers from campus police.
"He was supposed to be here for spring break. Now we’ll never see him again," said Ish Dhawan, Akul’s father.
Ish and Ritu Dhawan say their 18-year-old son Akul was fascinated with Legos and went away to college to study engineering. But on Jan. 20, he died of hypothermia while at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.
"Why couldn't they ever find him? It’s been 10 hours since he was reported missing. They never found him. This is right in the middle of the campus," said Dhawan.
Akul had been at a campus party the night before and at 1:23 a.m., a friend who’d been out with Akul, called police to report that he couldn’t find him.
Police say Akul was wearing only a sweatshirt with jeans, and that he may have been intoxicated. Police say an officer drove around the area and tried to reach Akul by phone.
"This is all we know, is that he was in the car. A police officer drove by. That is not the search procedure, right? If you look at the policies and procedures, that requires a foot search. If the officer had gotten out and looked around the area of Busey-Evans Hall, he would’ve found him," said Dhawan.
Dhawan says Akul’s friend called him to say his son was missing, so he called campus police himself.
"They put me on hold, then the call got transferred over to the coroner’s office, and we found out from the coroner’s office that our son passed away," said Dhawan.
The Dhawans believe their son made poor decisions by drinking and not wearing the proper clothing in the cold. His mother says other parents should know about the dangers of freezing weather, especially if you’ve never lived in it before.
"I want other parents to know that these kids are so young. They don’t know, they’re so naïve. They have no idea, and we didn’t know," said Ritu Dhawan.
Federal law requires universities to disclose missing student notification procedures. The family also filed a citizen complaint with police regarding its response. Campus police told KTVU its investigation is now closed, but the complaint is still being investigated.