The body of a Princeton University student has been found in a lake nearly one week after he mysteriously vanished from campus.
Lauren Blackburn, a 23-year-old junior from Indiana, was last seen at Princeton’s main library, Firestone Library, around 6pm last Saturday before he seemingly disappeared, setting off a six-day extensive search effort, according to a university alert.
On Friday morning, authorities tragically found his body at Lake Carnegie – just a few short miles from where he was last seen.
‘I am deeply saddened to share with you that the body of Lauren Blackburn ’26 was found at Lake Carnegie this morning,’ Regan Crotty, the university’s dean of undergraduate students, said in a statement.
‘It is during these difficult times that we must draw strength and support from one another and from those in our community who are available to us for counsel and care.’
On April 19, Blackburn was last seen near Firestone library, wearing ripped blue jeans, a yellow t-shirt, a black zip-up hoodie and blue, flat bottom shoes, according to the alert.
Search efforts began late Monday night into Tuesday, with teams focusing on Lake Carnegie after Blackburn’s phone last pinged near the body of water, 6 ABC News reported.
Residents in the area were alarmed by the early morning search, as sonar units, drones and K-9 teams were deployed to scour the waters of the man-made lake.
‘It’s the scale of it,’ resident Elizabeth Sheldon told 6 ABC about the massive search.
‘Usually at 1.30 in the morning, this is a quiet parking lot and there’s no activity,’ she added. ‘So it was highly unusual.’
However, Princeton announced on Friday morning that the 23-year-old’s body was tragically found at the nearby lake.
His cause of death remains unknown.
Lake Carnegie, which is nine-feet deep and 35-feet from the shoreline, was constructed specifically for Princeton’s rowing team back in 1906, according to the university.
Blackburn was described by those who knew him as being an extremely intelligent and kind young man.
‘I have never, ever once heard him ever speak a bad word,’ Karen York, Blackburn’s high school science teacher, told WAVE News.
Kate Robinson, an English teacher at his former high school in Corydon, Indiana, said: ‘He can read a book and know everything in it. I’m pretty sure he has a photographic memory.’
Before beginning his college career at Princeton, Blackburn was recognized as a National Merit Scholar in 2019, scoring a 1550 on his first SAT test and a 1580 out of 1600 on his second attempt.
In the spring of 2019, he was one of 300 people in the country accepted for the Gates Scholarship, which covers tuition, room, board and books – all to attend one of the world’s most elite schools, WAVE reported.
‘He’s just so deserving, he is,’ York told the outlet at the time of Blackburn’s acceptance.
Blackburn toured several Ivy League universities before landing on Princeton.
‘Princeton was my favorite because of the focus they put on their undergraduates,’ Blackburn told the outlet at the time.
‘I’m just very grateful that I don’t have to worry about that and it’s given me the opportunity to go to Princeton and receive a world-class education. I’m very grateful and feel very blessed,’ he added.
‘Princeton will allow me to study anything and get a world class education in anything.’
Though unsure of what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, Blackburn’s educators had never doubted his chance of success.
‘I know that he says he’s not sure what he wants to do, but whatever he does, it’s going to be amazing,’ Robinson told WAVE in 2019. ‘He’s a pretty great kid.’
Princeton University held a gathering on Friday evening in the New College West Head of College House, where dozens of counselors were made available to heartbroken students and staff, The Daily Princetonian reported.
Blackburn’s death is the third Princeton undergraduate death in two years and the seventh since 2021, according to the outlet.
All six previous deaths were ruled as suicides.
As of Friday evening, no further information – including the cause of Blackburn’s death and details about what led up to his disappearance – has been confirmed.