CU student found dead

The cause of death is unknown, but coroner suspects drugs played role

A CU student was found dead early Wednesday morning in the bathroom of an apartment in 900 block of 13th Street on the Hill.

According to Boulder police spokeswoman Julie Brooks, Robert Joseph Patterson, 22, was found unresponsive and not breathing on the bathroom floor by a friend, who immediately called 911.

Boulder police were first to respond to the call and unsuccessfully began CPR until paramedics arrived.

Patterson was pronounced dead at Boulder Community Hospital at 12:42 a.m.

The cause of death is still unknown, as toxicology results have yet to come in. Even without the toxicology report, suspicions arise around Patterson’s death.

“There is information that has come to light regarding drugs,” said Boulder County Coroner Thomas J. Faure.

Patterson’s Facebook.com profile frequently references drugs and sobriety. On November 28, he wrote he had been “Clean and sober for 153 days and counting” and described himself as “In charge of keeping myself sober on a daily minute-by-minute, second-by-second basis.”

The Atlanta native was an architecture and religious studies major at CU since fall 2003.

Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Alexandria Bath at [email protected]