Student’s dead decomposing body found in dorm room

A decomposing body of a University of Southern California (UNC) student was discovered on Thursday by a school maintenance man, and authorities say the student may have been dead for up to a week.

New York Post reports that detectives identified the student as Jacob Kelley, 24, a student in the master’s program of medical physiology. The maintenance worker told Detective David Alvarez that he noticed a horrific smell coming from Kelley’s dorm room. When authorities open the door to Kelley’s room in Seaver Residence Hall, the deceased student was inside.

Paramedics pronounced Kelley dead at 2:18 p.m. but Los Angeles County Coroner’s Ed Winter said that the student was definitely deceased prior to that.

“He was dead prior to that, but we don’t prematurely give a time estimate. It could have been a couple days, but it could have been a week.”

Detectives found no signs of struggle or foul play in the dorm. Winter added that the incident is being treated as a “natural death.”

“At this time, it’s being investigated as a possible natural death, but we’ll have further once the autopsy is done.”

According to CBS News, a detective found a suitcase full of clothes in the dorm room, which wasn’t unusual since classes had just started back. A neighbor told authorities it had been around a week since Kelley was last seen.

“It is with great sadness that we write to inform you of the passing of a member of our Keck School community,” dean Rohit Varma said in the letter to students. “Jacob’s family has been notified of their son’s passing.”

Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.

[Feature Photo: Google Maps/2016]