Police are looking into whether hazing played a role in the death of a Dartmouth College student whose body was found in a river over the weekend.
Won Jang was last seen around 9:30 p.m. Saturday by docks on the Connecticut River, and he was reported missing Sunday afternoon, police in Hanover, New Hampshire, said.
His body was found at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the water about 65 feet offshore, police said.
Jang, 20, was a member of the class of 2026 and a biomedical engineering major from Middletown, Delaware, who "enthusiastically took part in the Dartmouth community," Dartmouth's dean of the college, Scott Brown, said in a statement offering condolences to the community.
Two of Jang's friends wrote in an email to The Dartmouth, the college's student newspaper, that he had attended a joint event Saturday night of his fraternity, Beta Alpha Omega, and Alpha Phi, a sorority. The event had involved alcohol, the two friends said.
Police Chief Charles Dennis told WMUR-TV of Manchester that they would be looking into whether hazing was involved.
"There is some evidence of alcohol involved, certainly from witnesses and talking with things like that," he told the station. "Again, that’s all part of our investigation. We did receive an anonymous email this morning through the college that there may be some hazing involved, so we certainly will look into that aspect, too."
The assistant to the chief of police, Elizabeth Rathburn, confirmed on the phone that investigators are looking into hazing, among other things.
Police have said that a cause of death has not been determined but that foul play is not suspected after an initial investigation.
“The Hanover Police Department’s investigation into this death remains active and ongoing. The Department has interviewed numerous people and is reviewing all evidence collected,” police said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
The department said it was awaiting autopsy results "as part of reaching its determination."
Police have not mentioned any allegations of hazing in a pair of news releases. The police department said that the matter is part of an active investigation and that it would have no further immediate comment.
A spokesperson for the college said in a statement Tuesday that Beta Alpha Omega and Alpha Phi were suspended amid the investigation.
At the time of Jang's death, Beta Alpha Omega had been on alcohol probation after a suspension that spanned the fall, winter and spring terms, a spokesperson said. The school is in its summer term.
Alpha Phi had been on alcohol suspension during the fall 2023 term but had returned to good standing, the spokesperson said.
Beta Alpha Omega and Alpha Phi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Jang’s girlfriend, Dartmouth sophomore Lydia Jin, said he "was the kindest person that I knew." They met at badminton tryouts through a mutual friend and started a band together.
Jang was from and grew up in South Korea and moved to Delaware in middle school, she said.
"He wanted to be the first Korean to win a Nobel Prize, especially in science, and he wanted to cure Alzheimer's," Jin said. "There’s a lot about him that I can’t really put into so many words. But he cared really deeply for his friends and for his family. And everyone is really, really grieving his loss right now."
Jin declined to comment on the police investigation. She said that she was not with Jang on Saturday night but that she saw him earlier in the day and that he dropped her off on campus and said he loved her.
Jang did not know how to swim, she said.
"The real story is that a tragedy happened," she said. "A life was lost. People are grieving. People are suffering. And there is nothing that can change what happened."
