Investigation of MSU senior’s death closed

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Police and medical examiners said they were unable to determine the circumstances behind the methanol ingestion that caused the February death of finance senior Kevin Boskey and have closed their investigation.

East Lansing police Lt. Kevin Daley said investigators could not conclude why Boskey drank a methanol-containing product, but said there is no reason to suspect Boskey would have attempted to harm himself by consuming the product.

Daley said several automobile cleaning products found in Boskey’s room — ranging from windshield cleaner to engine performance enhancers — could have contained the methanol.

Ingham County Medical Examiner Dean Sienko said medical examiners concluded Boskey drank the substance, but Daley said investigators could not identify the reason Boskey consumed it.

“We don’t know,” Daley said. “That is the problem right there. Whether it was self-induced, whether someone else induced it, whether it was mixed with something — we do not know how it got into his body. There is nothing to show how he ingested that.”

Sienko said the medical portion of the investigation is closed, and any further information about the manner of Boskey’s death would have to come from police investigations.

“It’s unclear what he was thinking when he consumed the product,” Sienko said. “There’s no way I can do a blood test” to determine the reasoning Boskey consumed the methanol, he said.

The police investigation also is closed and will only reopen if further information becomes available, Daley said.

Daley said interviews with friends and family revealed Boskey was an “outstanding student, an outstanding kid” for whom everything was going well.

“We’ve talked to anybody who could lend additional information and there’s just none there,” he said. “It’s frustrating on our part. We would like to know, but there’s nothing available to us at this time.”

Although cases of methanol poisoning are not common, the substance can be highly toxic and deadly if consumed in significant quantities, Sienko said.

Sienko said investigators could not determine how much of the methanol-containing substance Boskey consumed or how long it had been in his system before his death.

Boskey’s father, William Boskey, said although his family doesn’t understand the tragedy and probably never will, they are grateful for his time in their lives.

“We’re thankful God let us have 21 years of life with him,” he said.

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