MSU Police: Body is that of man missing since visit to MSU

Mon, Jan 24, 2022
NCAAF News (AP)

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A body found Friday in the Red Cedar has been confirmed as that of an 18-year-old man who vanished in October while visiting the Michigan State University campus, police said.

Michigan State University Police Inspector Chris Rozman said a medical examiner positively identified Brendan Santo's body based on dental records, MLive.com reported.

After the body was found Friday in the Red Cedar River, which flows through the MSU campus, authorities said they believed it was that of Santo.

His body was found about 1 1/2 miles from where Santo was last seen Oct. 29 leaving an MSU residence hall during a campus visit ahead of a football game between MSU and Michigan.

Santo, a student at Grand Valley State University, was from Rochester Hills, a Detroit suburb.

MSU said Saturday that a private investigator working with the missing young man's family first alerted them to what turned out to be the youth's body in the river.

Campus police said a tip from private investigator Ryan Robison early Friday led divers to recover the body from the river.

Robison informed the Santo family and then called 911, leading to the body's recovery, police said.

The campus police department added that it had planned this week to search the area of the river where Santo's body was found.