“Immunity from prosecution is rarely conferred by my office,” said Murphy. “But given the seriousness of the case, in that a young man died, I think that prosecuting someone for an open container or disorderly conduct is not in anyone’s best interest, especially when that may allow the individual to willingly come forward and provide the police with valuable information as to what happened the night Alexander went missing.”

Without speculating too much, the fact that law enforcement officials are still pursuing the investigation after the release of Grant’s autopsy results suggests that they suspect some sort of foul play or outside involvement.

Additional coverage by the Albany Times Union

These findings fail to explain Grant’s disoriented behavior. His rationale for his bizarre journey west—from 146 Church St. to 3 Care Lane, into the woods, and ending in a frozen bend in Putnam Creek—also remains a mystery

Lt. Greg Veitch of the Saratoga Springs Police said that it is still unclear whether law enforcement will press charges, though Grant’s family has once again expressed their anger “that some of the people involved in this tragedy have not come forward with the information necessary for us to understand what happened to Alex on the night of March 5, 2011.”

The Saratogain explains that the report, which has been in processing since Grant’s body was recovered from the shallow brook on the morning of Tuesday March 8th, needed to be sent out for a further battery of tests after initial tests returned “surprising” results—a possible explanation for the long delay.

Astonishingly little is known about Grant’s last night. The tragedy, a baffling story of college parties, a bizarre breaking and entering, strange behavior and a two-day search and rescue mission, initially dominated front pages across Saratoga County, Boston and Westchester County (Grant is from Briarcliff Manor) but as the trickle of details surrounding the case evaporated, Grant’s story fell victim to the news cycle and all but disappeared. Aside from a brief story on June 22nd on the case’s inexplicable stall—a peculiar non-news news item—Grant’s story has been largely missing from the local media. The College, slow to comment on the tragedy in its early days, also remained silent.

As Executive Editor, I covered this story for SkidmoreUnofficial.com when it first broke and I am writing about it here again because, until recently, the Alexander Grant case has fallen victim to the familiar phenomenon of forgetfulness that has long been Skidmore’s all too convenient solution to many of its problem. On a campus that in recent years has made it de-facto policy to address every issue, big and small, with an exhausting public dialogue, the issues raised by Alexander Grant’s death quickly blew over.

As much as it has fascinated me, I’ve hesitated to write about this story. Grant’s parents and friends deserve their peace, and Alex’s heartrending death should not be bandstanded into an opportunity to discuss the intricacies of student life at a college he did not even attend. However, with the Saratoga Springs Police Department and Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III saying that analysis of the long-coming toxicology report could become publicly available early this week, and with the possibility of criminal charges no doubt to enter the conversation soon after that, the Alexander Grant case, Skidmore College and its students are sure to once again find themselves in the media’s spotlight, and the story will be on the minds and in the mouths of the Capital Region.

I am writing here in an attempt to rationally organize a growing news story that has been reported in fragments as a preemptive measure against the rumors and speculation that will no doubt well up around this story. The details herein are culled from news reports pulled from across the internet and from credible informal conversations with students, residents and various parties. I have taken serious measures to link to informational sources. I am no expert, but I did bounce back and forth between those two Church Street parties that night and as the former Executive Editor of this blog I am a person that has taken a particular interest in the workings of Skidmore College and in the ways that Skidmore College and Saratoga Springs interact.

That interaction is something I have considered seriously and spent a great deal of my time thinking about and I can say with near certainty that while the story may have disappeared from the newspapers and from the conversations of students this past summer, the death of Alexander Grant was very much on the minds of Skidmore administrators as this new school year began.

*

March 5th was an unseasonably warm Saturday, one of the perennial upstate New York bait-and-switches where warmish days are betrayed by freezing nights. Alexander Grant, a Boston College sophomore economics major and lacrosse player from Briarcliff, New York, was in town to visit friends from high school. There would be two parties that night—unrelated and intended for different social circles, but across the street from one another. Later, the police would say there were 300 people in attendance, a questionable claim if you really take the time to consider it. The parties were, however, well attended—March is the month when Skidmore thaws and the large scale social scene returns from hibernation.

Police, responding to noise complaints, say they were called to the two separate parties—one at 150 Church and the other at 146—at around 12:25 a.m. Sunday. The party at 146 Church, where Grant began his night and was last seen in person, was a Blacklight Party, a staple of the college scene where blacklights light basements and dance floors in a purple glow and party-goers are encouraged to draw on each other with fluorescent highlighters. Both parties were unremarkable from what I saw, your typical college fare.

146 Church, a yellowing brick rental, that in recent years has been associated with the lacrosse team, had been in the news before and earned a reputation notorious enough to warrant this unflattering Property Profile from the Albany Times Union. Because of legal complications stemming from this case the house is not currently being rented out.

*

Official reports filed by Grant’s friends at the time they reported him missing say he was last seen at 11:30pm Saturday night, almost a full hour before the Police broke up the two parties and sent the revelers packing. This time discrepancy is perhaps the most maddening mystery of the case. That hour is either the most important detail or a trivial nothing stemming from an unsure statement.

the trip between 146 church st and 3 care lane

As the party-goers spilled out into traffic across Church and Van Dam, the pack stumbled east. Shooed away by police officers responding to the noise complaints, everyone headed either downtown or back to campus. Grant, however, is next seen on security footage taken inside a medical office building at 3 Care Lane, about one mile west of the Church Street parties.

Video footage taken at 1:15am shows Grant, dressed in “only boxer shorts, one sock and a long-sleeve T-shirt”, break a small foot-and-a-half by three-foot window near the facility’s front door and crawl through it, severing his Achilles tendon on the sharp glass.

Saratoga Springs Police Sgt. Michael Welch is quoted in a March 6th Saratogian article saying “There was a significant amount (of blood)” and that footage shows Grant “obviously in distress and in need of some medical attention.” Later, during Saratoga County Emergency Services’ search of the area, Grant’s clothing and identification were found discarded five hundred yards from the building.

By the time police showed up at the Church St. parties at 12:25am the temperature had already dipped to near freezing, and now Grant, separated from his friends and clearly disoriented, was undoubtedly in distress. His erratic behavior, his lack of coordination and his paradoxical undressing all match a profile of severe hypothermia, a condition with often catastrophic effects.

At 2am video surveillance footage shows Grant leaving 3 Care Lane through the front door, having taken nothing.

*

Early Sunday morning, an employee of 3 Care Lane saw the broken window and blood and reported a possible break in to the Saratoga Spring Police but it isn’t until Alexander Grant’s friends report him missing at 5pm—an excruciating seventeen hours since they last saw him—that police link Grant to the break in at Care Lane and are able to confirm it is him on the surveillance footage.

The Lower Adirondack Search and Rescue team walks along railroad tracks Monday morning in search of missing Westchester County 19-year-old person Alexander Grant. (ERICA MILLER/The Saratogian)

Saratoga Springs Police immediately organized a search party that employed all-terrain vehicles, thermal imaging, dogs and more than 50 professionals searching the heavily wooded area surrounding 3 Care Lane. Because of worsening weather and limited visibility, the search was suspended at 11:30pm Sunday night and did not resume until heavy snowfall ceased at 1pm Monday afternoon and Saratoga Springs City police, firefighters and State Forest Rangers returned to comb the area between Church St and 3 Care Lane.

On Tuesday March 8th Grant’s body was found submerged at a bend in Putnam Creek near Route 9N, just over a mile from 146 Church St,.

*

In the months that followed Alexander Grant’s death, media coverage roared and speculation grew (the rumors floating around campus and Caroline Street won’t be dignified with any coverage here). The mystery of Grant’s final hours only grew as those involved fell silent and news reports found themselves with nothing new to report. Mystery fueled the flames of speculation.

In late March the Times Union published a letter from Ken and Deanna Grant, Alex’s parents, to the Saratoga Springs Police Dept. expressing their thanks, and airing their unknowable frustration with the silence surrounding the night of their son’s death. They wrote,

“[we are] deeply distraught at the unfortunate span of critical hours that lapsed before rescue efforts could commence, we don’t believe that we have been told everything that we need to know about this by Alex’s friends who were present at the time of his disappearance”

Ken and Deanna’s letter prompted a strongly worded and controversial editorial from the Post-Star’s Editorial Board that, until the arrival of the toxicology report late last week, stood as the last word on the matter.

On official records the case is currently listed as “the ongoing investigation into the death of Alexander Grant.” Charges stemming from any police investigation, into the residents of 146 Church Street, party goers, The College, property owners or any other groups have yet to be filed. The toxicology report could, of course, change all of this.

Both The College and the town of Saratoga Springs will find themselves in tricky and unenviable positions as the issue of blame once again roils to the surface, Police handling of off-campus parties is forever changed and the new points-based discipline system and The College’s steady march towards becoming a dry campus are only the beginning.  Unfortunately the issue here, if we could deign to reduce the rat’s nest to just a single issue, will not be solved by committee meetings or policy changes or town/gown arguments.

Please please take care of yourselves.

Kevin Sweeting is the former Executive Editor of SkidmoreUnofficial.com and a 2011 graduate of Skidmore College. 

For those of you in Saratoga tonight (6/12) the Saratoga Acoustic Blues Society is performing on the roof of the Tang at 7pm. FO’ FREE.

Beginning today the 32nd annual International Women’s Writing Guild summer conference is on campus until the 19th.

Campus is currently hosting two dance residencies: Taylor 2 and the SITI Company.

Today is day two of the SaratogaArtsFest. Scope has a riveting interview with Marie Glotzbach about the festival and the importance of the Arts.

Visiting Professor Casey analyzed the agrarian ideal in a new book.

Beau Breslin wrote about Obama’s selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court in a essay published in the Times Union.

Thats all for now folks.