Fargo police officials have identified the body they found Tuesday morning as that of the missing North Dakota State University student.
Lt. Tory Jacobson, a spokesman for Moorhead police, said that the body of 18-year-old Thomas "Tom" Gregory Bearson was discovered on the ground on the lot of Larry's RV Sales in Moorhead, near 29th Street and 24th Avenue South by Sam's Club.
According to a statement from Moorhead Police, the body has been transported to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of death.
Bearson from Sartell, Minn., was last seen at about 3:40 a.m. Saturday in the 800 block of 14th Street North, about six blocks south of his dormitory room on campus in Reed Hall. He was wearing a baseball hat, a blue Sartell track and field shirt along with Khaki pants.
Lt. Joel Vettel, a spokesman for the Fargo Police Department, said that the family approached police when Bearson did not show up for a scheduled home visit in Sartell.
Police officials said that the area where the body was found was more than a five-mile walk from Street North. Vettel declined to comment whether a foul play was involved, nor did he say how the body ended up at the RV lot.
"We are still interviewing folks to see if alcohol was a factor," said Vettel. "That is certainly a possibility, but we want to make sure we are going on strictly facts and we cannot substantiate that (alcohol involvement) at this time." Kare 11 reports
Bearson was a well-liked standout basketball player at Sartell High School. Neighbours in Sartell described him as a soft-spoken individual, who excelled in both football and basketball. Bearson aspired to make a career in the pharmaceutical field.
"On behalf of the North Dakota State University community, I want to offer our deepest condolences to the Bearson family. In a tight-knit campus community like ours, we all mourn the loss of such a promising, well-regarded young man," NDSU President Dean Bresciani said in a statement.
Bresciani requested the community not to come to any drastic conclusion before the outcome of the police investigation. "Conversations like that can be exceptionally painful to family members that are grieving over this," Bresciani said, Bismarck Tribune reports.
