“She was like my angel,” said Lauren MacNeil, a close friend of Cotter’s since middle school. “She would find humor in everything.”

The 20-year-old international relations junior was found dead Wednesday at a golf course in Chesterton, Ind. The small town is about 50 miles southeast of Chicago.

Employees at Brassie Golf Course discovered Cotter’s body at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Chesterton police Lt. Dave Adkins said. Her body was about a half-mile from a vehicle with Michigan registration that Chesterton police believe belonged to Cotter.

An autopsy, conducted Thursday, revealed that Cotter died of massive blunt force trauma to the chest and abdomen, Porter County Coroner Victoria Deppe said.

Deppe said the cause of death is unknown, but massive blunt force trauma often is caused by car accidents, being struck by a fast-moving object or falling from a high distance.

Results from microscopic and toxicology tests will help determine how Cotter died, Deppe said.

“It will take about a month for all the test results (to come in),” Deppe said. “During that time, I will be looking at all other avenues.”

Deppe said Cotter was dead for about 24 to 36 hours before her body was discovered.

Cotter’s friends said she told her parents she was traveling to Chicago to pick up a friend shortly before she died.

Her roommates, Jessica Hummel and Jennifer Harkness, both said they were concerned when Cotter didn’t return to their apartment when classes resumed after winter break.

“It doesn’t sound like her at all, and that’s what the weird thing is,” said Hummel, a nursing sophomore. “I don’t know why she would go (to Indiana) by herself. That just doesn’t make sense.”

Harkness said she met Cotter when they signed their lease at Knob Hill Apartments in Okemos last year and they became instant friends.

The English junior said one of her fondest memories of Cotter involved “girls’ night,” a weekly event dedicated to watching “The Hills” and “Newport Harbor.”

“She had such a great, witty sense of humor … she just had this air about her,” Harkness said. “She was incredibly smart and just a great person all around.”

Harkness said the last time she contacted Cotter was Dec. 25, when they text messaged each other to say “Merry Christmas.”

Harkness and Hummel attempted to call Cotter last week but could not reach her.

Cotter’s family declined to comment.

Cotter graduated Mason High School in 2005 where she participated in band, school plays and Frisbee club. Cotter worked at the English Language Center while on campus.

Robert Alford, a junior at Central Michigan University, said he met Cotter while in the band at Mason Middle School.

He said he last saw Cotter in December at his birthday party in Mason.

Alford said he will remember Cotter for her sense of humor and the fun times they had in a Mason High School chemistry class.

“It’s tragic what happened, and I couldn’t think anyone could do that to anyone so great,” Alford said.

“She was too good of a person.”