Missing Indian- American student Sunil Tripathi is confirmed dead WASHINGTON (TIP): Sunil Tripathi, a Brown University student missing for more than a month, is dead. Rhode Islands medical examiner on April 25 said the body found in a river on April 23 is that of Sunil Tripathi. Health Department spokeswoman Dara Chadwick said the body was identified through a forensic dental exam.

The cause of death has not been determined yet however. Tripathi, a 22-year-old philosophy student, was last seen on March 16. The body was found in Providence River behind the Wyndham Garden Providence Hotel at around 6 p.m. The coach of Brown’s rowing team, which practices in that area, saw the body floating in the water. The police waited for medical examiner to make the final determination. The family said in a statement on “Help us find Sunil Tripathi”, a Facebook page they had set up to help the search, they felt “indescribable grief” and were grateful for all-around support. Tripathi became the became the target of intense internet speculation last week if he was Suspect No 2 wanted for the Boston marathon bombings.

Many thought it was him from the visuals released by the FBI. The Facebook page set up by his family to help in the search was hit by a storm of nasty hate messages. “It was outrageous, what they had to say,” Sunil’s father Akhil Tripathi told Hindustan Times. Reddit, a site that allows users to post news, apologized to the family for its role in it. The Tripathis are from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Akhil Tripathi, an engineering graduate from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, came to the US in 1968.