UBC campus death under investigation

FREDERICTON (CUP) — Details of the events surrounding the death of Silas Rogers are going to take longer to come to light than some might expect.

The 20-year-old man from Saint John, New Brunswick died after being found unconscious in a University of British Columbia residence during the final week of the Olympics — a day after being released from a holding cell for being drunk in public.

The investigation is expected to take months.

“Sometimes it takes up to a year, sometimes even more,” said Lori Campbell, a forensic toxicology specialist with the RCMP forensic lab in Halifax. She explained that the coroner has to draw samples, which have to be sent to a lab in Vancouver.

Those results, though, take months — and then other information has to be gathered from tests for police to release an autopsy report. Only then will information about Rogers' death become public.

The exact cause of death and the events leading up to the discovery of his body are being investigated, but this much is known: he was arrested by RCMP in Whistler, B.C. on February 23 for being drunk in public. He was released the next morning, only to be found unconscious 23 hours later. He died the following day, Friday, in a Vancouver hospital.

Rogers was a student at UBC, having moved there after graduating from Saint John High School.

The Vancouver Police Department is investigating the case, but is hesitant to release information. Jana McGuinness, a media relations officer with the department, said police still aren't even able to officially release so much as Rogers’ name in connection with the case, only referring to him as a UBC student.

“The police haven’t released it publicly because the cause of death is not determined. If it’s a homicide, we release the name quickly afterwards. But when the cause of death is undetermined, there are privacy rules," she said. “Whatever the cause of death might be, we have to be careful respecting the family.”

McGuinness says the investigation will examine what happened over the four days — from the Tuesday of Rogers' arrest until his death on Friday, February 26.

The Vancouver police were asked by the the RCMP to take on the investigation on Thursday, while Rogers was still alive.

"The RCMP wanted us to cover all the bases,” McGuiness said.

A new policy was enacted on February 4 by the RCMP to defer investigations of RCMP employees to an outside agency, including those investigations involving injury or death.

“That’s why the Vancouver police have this investigation," McGuiness added.

Campbell points out that it isn’t customary to release bits of information to the public as it’s gathered.

“Sometimes it’s not quick enough for the family, though,” she said.