Back in early February, I posted about the missing ISU college student named Jon Lacina. Jon was a twenty-one year old student at ISU, a senior majoring in graphic design. He disappeared January 22, last seen leaving a party at an apartment complex near campus. On April 14, a beautiful 75-degree day in Ames, an ISU police officer found a deceased male body in an "isolated room" of an building on the college's old dairy farm. The building was just outside the initial search area. And the following afternoon, a medical examiner and Lacina's family confirmed that the body was indeed that of Jon Lacina.
I find this news to be not only sad, but also shocking. I'm surprised that the dairy farm was not included in the initial search area. The building is only a mile south of campus, and only a couple blocks south of the dorm that I lived in last fall. My windows faced south and when I looked out of them, I could see the old dairy farm.
Jon Lacina's body was discovered in the middle of VEISHEA, the huge week-long celebration of ISU's original colleges. VEISHEA is jampacked with concerts, performances, speakers, activities, exhibits, parades, food stands, and carnivals. However, while ISU students are eager for the celebrations begin... the discover of Jon Lacina's body is a sorrowful shadow in the back of students' minds.
How did he end up there? What happened? And why? These questions are still a mystery. The body is undergoing an autopsy and foul play will not be ruled out until after the autopsy. Results may come in days or maybe weeks. But it may be a long time before we have the answers we desire so much.
My thoughts and prayers (as well as the thoughts and prayers of thousands of ISU students and Iowans) are with the Lacina family in the time of mourning and wondering. I hope the questions are eventually answered so that there may be closure on this tragedy.
Amore.
