BEMIDJI -- Hypothermia appears to be the cause of a BSU student’s death last week, according to preliminary autopsy results, Bemidji police said Thursday.
Sandra Lommen, 20, of Bloomington, Minn., was found lying on the ground in the area of 10th Street Northwest and Rice Avenue by a passerby the morning of Dec. 10.
Lommen was unconscious but breathing when emergency personnel arrived on scene. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Preliminary autopsy results indicate Lommen’s manner of death was exposure to hypothermic conditions , according to a release issued Thursday by the Bemidji Police Department. The autopsy was conducted by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s office on Dec. 11. The cause of death has been ruled as accidental.
Police say Lommen was leaving a house party in Bemidji at approximately 2 a.m. on Dec. 10. Based on evidence at the scene, it appears Lommen fell into a nearby creek and continued walking before she was found approximately 50 yards away. Lommen was transported by ambulance to Sanford Bemidji Medical Center at approximately 8:30 a.m.
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Bemidji Police Chief Mike Mastin said Thursday that the case remains under investigation while detectives continue to collect information.
Lommen was a first-year nursing student at BSU who lived on campus in the Linden dormitory. According to Lommen’s obituary in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, services will be held Friday, Dec. 19, at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church, 901 E 90th Street in Bloomington. Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. with a service immediately following.
