One year later, NJ student's death remains mystery

A year after the death of a college freshman, authorities remain puzzled over the circumstances leading to his disappearance and college officials are taking steps to ensure it doesn?t happen again. In

News 12 Staff

Mar 26, 2007, 1:48 AM

Updated 6,631 days ago

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A year after the death of a college freshman, authorities remain puzzled over the circumstances leading to his disappearance and college officials are taking steps to ensure it doesn?t happen again. In January, the College of New Jersey (TCNJ) decided to make a popular senior tradition at the school, Senior Week, alcohol free. Traditionally, seniors spend the week before graduation sleeping in their old freshman dorms. Students over 21 were allowed to drink in the buildings during that time. In January 2007, the school decided to stop the practice due to binge drinking concerns. Some students say it all has to do with the death of a freshman there almost exactly one year ago. No one knows if alcohol was a factor in the disappearance of freshmen John Fiocco Jr. on March 25, 2006. However, TCNJ officials say the decision was simply the responsible thing to do. They also say the college would never make a major policy change due to an isolated incident. Fiocco?s blood was found in a dumpster outside of a dorm room in March 2006 after he went missing. Authorities then found blood in the trash chute of Woolfe Hall. Officials tracked the TCNJ trash to two landfills in Lower Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where his body was found more than a month later. Investigators believe Fiocco may have died and the crime was disposing of the body, or he was killed and his body was disposed of in the trash. There is no official cause of death.