Who was Lauren Blackburn? Princeton student, 23, found dead in lake near campus week after disappearing
Princeton's Department of Safety wrote, 'It is with great sadness that we share that the body of Lauren Blackburn '26 was found at Lake Carnegie this morning. Our hearts are heavy and we share our deepest condolences with Lauren's family and friends.'
A post shared by Princeton University (@princeton)
Meanwhile, Dean of Undergraduate Students Regan Crotty wrote in a letter to the school, 'I am deeply saddened to share with you that the body of Lauren Blackburn '26 was found at Lake Carnegie this morning. Our hearts are heavy and we share our deepest condolences with Lauren's family and friends.'
Blackburn was reportedly majoring in English. The school said he was last seen near the college's Firestone Library at around 6 pm on April 19. On Tuesday, April 22, the school reported him as missing through a campus alert.
Blackburn was a former features writer for the Daily Princetonian, the student newspaper. He was the most recent winner of the 2024 Sam Hutton Fund for the Arts, an award given to one student in the Lewis Center for the Arts 'to support undergraduate summer study, travel, and independent research,' the New York Post reported.
Blackburn graduated from Corydon Central High School in southern Indiana before he began attending Princeton. In 2019, he made local headlines after being awarded a National Merit Scholarship and Gates Scholarship.
Princeton's Department of Safety described Blackburn as '6 feet, 2 inches tall' and as having 'brown eyes and black hair.' He weighed 170 pounds.
A water search was conducted after officials pinged his phone in the area of the man-made reservoir around midnight Tuesday. Lake Carnegie, which is located near the university's athletic complex, was a gift from steel industrialist Andrew Carnegie for a cost of $450,000, which would be approximately $9.5 million now, the school said. The lake is located about a mile from the library where Blackburn was last spotted.
When Blackburn earned the National Merit Scholarship and Gates Scholarship, teachers praised him for having an excellent memory. 'He can read a book and know everything in it,' English teacher Kate Robinson told WAVE at the time. 'I'm pretty sure he has a photographic memory.'
'He's kind,' science teacher Karen York said 'I have never, ever once heard him ever speak a bad word.'
Blackburn's death is the sixth death of an undergraduate at the school since 2021. All the five previous deaths were ruled as suicides, the Daily Princetonian revealed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Time of India
Bizman held for molesting deaf-mute woman
Kolkata: A 39-year-old businessman, father of a class 6 student at an English-medium school in the city, was arrested on Saturday for allegedly molesting and sexually harassing a deaf-and-mute woman at Maddox Square. Other visitors saw the incident and caught him before handing him over to cops. He was produced at Alipore Court on Sunday and got bail. Witnesses said he approached the woman in a secluded area and tried to touch her. "When she tried to avoid him, he allegedly tried to outrage her modesty," said an officer, adding her sister lodged the complaint. "She protested through sounds, which alerted others." tnn
Indian Express
17 hours ago
- Indian Express
The author Russia sentenced: 5 detective novels by Boris Akunin
Boris Akunin carved his literary legacy with detective novels set in imperial Russia, works that made him one of the country's most beloved authors. Now, the same pen has made him a wanted man. A Russian military court sentenced Akunin in absentia to 14 years in prison for voicing support for Ukraine and criticising President Putin's rule. Writing under the pen name Boris Akunin, Grigori Chkhartishvili redefined crime fiction for a post-Soviet readership. His most famous creation is Erast Fandorin, a Russian detective with Japanese swordsmanship. These mysteries are filled with conspiracies and the menace of unchecked power. That's what has made his books beloved by readers and threatening to those in power. Here are 5 detective novels that brought Boris Akunin global fame and continue to be relevant today. This is where the game begins. A promising young student shoots himself in a public park in 1876 Moscow and no one seems particularly surprised. Except for Erast Fandorin, new to the force and already too perceptive for his own good. A puzzling suicide turns into a tangle of clues. A photograph of a mysterious woman, an English orphanage, a will rewritten just before death. A whodunit that shows how easily one life can fall apart. A single question can echo across continents- what really happened? Fandorin is just trying to understand a world that doesn't always make sense. And that hunger for truth is what makes Boris Akunin's detective truly unforgettable. A mansion in Paris. Ten bodies. One golden whale shaped key. The trail leads to the Leviathan, a luxury steamship sailing to Calcutta, and now a crime scene at sea. Among the suspects are- a secretive doctor, a relic obsessed aristocrat and a Swiss woman with secrets. Also aboard is none other than Erast Fandorin, unbothered by the waves or the rising body count. A locked-room mystery. And a floating theatre of suspicion, where manners mask murder and every alibi is rehearsed. Claustrophobic and tightly plotted. A must-read for locked-room mystery fans. The city is dressed in gold and expectation. Moscow prepares for the grand coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and that's when chaos strikes. The heir to the throne is kidnapped. A deadly ransom demand follows. Then enters Erast Fandorin, who must solve this mystery. A case of abduction that quickly turns into a critique of power and corruption. With time slipping away, Fandorin races against court politics and cold-blooded villains to rescue the future of Russia. Trains, spies, ninjas and a double life across continents. In 1905, Fandorin races to stop Japanese sabotage along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Bombs tick and war hangs heavy in the air. But the real origin of this conflict is decades earlier. We rewind to 1870s Japan. A younger Fandorin arrives in Yokohama. He learns swordplay, earns scars, meets Masa and uncovers a murder. This case quickly takes a turn into betrayal and heartbreak. Past and present collide in a gripping finale that bridges two eras and reveals what truly forged Erast Fandorin. War is chaos. But in Akunin's hands, even the battlefield becomes a chessboard. In 1877, amid the Russo-Turkish War, Erast Fandorin is sent to the front, undercover and still recovering from past wounds. His mission is to unmask a saboteur tipping the war's balance. He's joined by Varvara Suvorova, a journalist with no love for empire or for men like Fandorin. But when her fiancé is accused of spying, she's forced to rethink everything. As ideologies blur, so do the loyalties drawn in war. A taut, slow-burn mystery where alliances shift like the frontlines. (The writer is an intern with
New Indian Express
19 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Dalit student found dead on Armoor Social Welfare Residential College campus, family alleges negligence
NIZAMABAD : Intermediate second-year student Gaddam Santhosh (19), studying at the Social Welfare Residential College near Pipri road under Armoor police station limits, tragically died by suicide on Saturday morning. He was found hanging from a tree on the college premises. After the morning physical exercises, college staff and students noticed Santhosh was missing. A search led to the heartbreaking discovery, and police and family members were immediately informed. Santhosh's body was shifted to the government hospital for a postmortem and later handed over to the family. A resident of Arepally in Nizamsagar mandal and belonging to the Dalit community, Santhosh came from a financially constrained background. His father is employed in Dubai, while his brothers work in Hyderabad. According to G Punachandar Rao, Incharge Regional Coordinator of Social Welfare Residential Junior Colleges, Santhosh had returned to the Velpur College (which shares a campus with the Armoor College) on July 9 after the summer break. He had attended morning exercises and was last seen heading to the bath around 6:40 am. He was found dead around 7:40 am. Punachandar Rao added that Santhosh was not academically weak but had passed only four subjects in his first year. The transition from Telugu to English medium may have affected his academic comfort, and students suggested that limited friendships might have contributed to his emotional struggles. However, no direct evidence supports these speculations. Santhosh's brother, Sreenu, lodged a police complaint, expressing doubts about the role of the principal and physical education trainer. Armoor Police Officer Satyanarayana Goud confirmed that a case has been registered and an investigation is underway. (If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)
