BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Friends and family are mourning the loss of an IU student who fell from the balcony of a fourth floor apartment early Friday morning.
The incident is under investigation by the Monroe County Coroner’s office and Bloomington Police Department.
The coroner’s office identified the victim as 20-year-old Jacob Schleinz.
Police say investigators are checking nearby surveillance cameras to see if they have footage of the accident.
Police were called to the apartment complex near Washington and Smith early Friday morning
That’s where they found the IU junior on the sidewalk with “significant injuries.” He was taken to the hospital but later died.
His roommates say he was possibly trying to sit up on the rail when the tragic accident happened.
“When you’re leaning up on like a balcony, I feel like it’s easy just to sit up on it, ya know,” said Jacob’s roommate Matt Torbeck.
“It’s just a tragic accident whether alcohol was involved or not. I don’t think that was a factor. I think it could happen to anyone.”
The coroner’s office says an autopsy was done Saturday in Terre Haute and the preliminary cause of death is blunt force trauma. Toxicology results are still pending.
Jacob’s roommate Jackson Vecchio says they were in shock when they heard the news and the response afterwards has been overwhelming.
“He had so much reach on so many people that I think that everyone, like, everyone knows that it was just an accident and everyone is just so broken up about it and I don’t think he’ll be remembered by this,” said Vecchio.
“I mean, he’s been, so many stories, everyone’s got their funny story or their favorite memory.”
Jacob’s loved ones have set up a GoFundMe account for a scholarship fund in his name. So far, it’s already raised more than $108,000.
“It just shows that he meant a lot to a lot of people,” said Torbeck.
“It’s really just to honor his name so it’d be just, you know, whatever, however much we end up raising, which we’re just trying to get as much as we can. Anything helps,” said Vecchio.
His roommates say they are talking with the Dean of Students to possibly work with them to help establish the scholarship.
