Cause of man’s death still not known

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ST. PAUL (AP) — The Ramsey County medical examiner is attempting to determine the cause of death of a 21-year-old Zumbrota college student who was found dead Tuesday after a night of heavy drinking.

Peter Sand, 21, a student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, was found dead Tuesday morning in the living room of the home of his cousin, who lives near Hamline University in St. Paul, police said Wednesday.

An investigator with the medical examiner’s office said no cause of death has been determined and that it will take some time before toxicology tests are complete.

A 2005 graduate of Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School, Sand was in St. Paul on Monday to visit his cousin, and they celebrated the cousin’s 21st birthday party with a night of drinking, police said. When the others woke up the next morning, they found that Sand was not responsive.

Sand’s brother, Ryan Gunhus of Rochester, told the Rochester Post-Bulletin that his brother and others had been at bars that night and took a cab back to the cousin’s home.

Gunhus also said that Peter Sand was on medication to quit smoking and was taking a dietary supplement to lose fat and build muscle.

Gunhus said the family was told that the autopsy indicated Sand had died from closed-head trauma.

“He didn’t crack his head open, but at some point in the night he had hit his head somehow,” Gunhus told the Rochester paper.

If it is established that alcohol played a role in Sand’s death, it would be at least the fifth involving alcohol and young adults in Minnesota since last fall.

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