Trending
The 17-year-old Irvona boy who drowned in Clearfield Creek Saturday had a post-mortem blood-alcohol level of 0.17 percent, a little more than twice the legal limit for driving, according to Blair County Coroner Patty Ross.
David Rydbom had been camping with a friend on his family's property overnight Friday when he went missing, after which a search located his body in the creek, state police reported Saturday.
"Young people were drinking," Ross said Sunday. "He (David) said he was going to lay down (at the campsite)."
But David wasn't at the campsite when a friend or friends went looking for him later, Ross said.
David's uncle, a firefighter who was part of the search team, found his nephew's body about a mile away from the campsite about noon, Ross said.
It's not certain yet when the drowning occurred, but the events leading up to it happened in the dark, according to Ross.
An autopsy will be conducted today, Ross said.
The preliminary ruling that the death was accidental is unlikely to change, said Trooper Scott Sankey of the state police at Clearfield, the investigating officer.
David, a senior at Glendale High School, had been accepted into the veterinary program at Penn State, Ross said.
"It's the saddest case," the coroner said. "One stupid error."
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.