A body found in the Hudson River off New York City was identified today as that of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, 18, who committed suicide last week after a gay sexual encounter was allegedly streamed online by his roommate.
Grace Burgess, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner’s office, said Thursday that Clementi suffered blunt impact injuries to his torso from the jump. The official cause of death is listed as suicide by drowning.
Clementi leaped to his death on September 22 after finding out a chatroom audience watched live images of him having a “sexual encounter” with another man.
Fellow students Dharun Ravi, who was Clementi’s roommate, and Molly Wei, are accused of placing a camera in the room and streaming the images onto the internet on Sept. 19. They have been charged with invasion of privacy and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Earlier today, Gawker.com reported there were indications Clementi reached out to an online gay community for support after learning of the spying. Clementi, using the screen name “cit2mo,” wrote five posts on the site justusboys.com, describing the spying incident.
There was no mention of suicide in any of the posts. The timeline seems to fit Clementi — the first post was on September 21, right after he learned of the broadcast. The last one was 15 hours before he jumped off the bridge the following day.
Clementi was an award-winning musician who had played violin in several orchestras, including the New Jersey All-State Orchestra.
