Rutgers Frat Party Death Due to Alcohol Poisoning

Alcohol poisoning is to blame in the death of the 19-year-old Rutgers student who was taken to the hospital after attending a "gathering" at a fraternity house last month. Sophomore Caitlyn Kovacs was taken from the frat house to the hospital around 3am on Sept. 21 after she appeared to be in distress, and the county medical examiner's report found her death to be accidental and caused by "acute ethanol toxicity," the Star-Ledger reports. A county prosecutor says the investigation into her death is "active and continuing."

Days after Kovacs' death, her mom said friends described Caitlyn as a social drinker, not a heavy one. And, Lorraine Kovacs said, friends also said Caitlyn was intoxicated on the night of her death but was coherent until she suddenly, while talking with a friend, stopped making sense. At that point someone felt her pulse, and it was faint. At the time, Lorraine said she doubted "over-drinking" led to the death and suspected Caitlyn had an underlying medical condition that contributed. (More Rutgers stories.)