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Officials have announced a cause of death for Wisconsin graduate student Eliotte Heinz, whose body was found floating face down in the Mississippi River days after she vanished during a walk home from a bar in July.
The La Crosse County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Heinz’s cause of death as drowning and her manner of death as an accident, according to a new autopsy report obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday morning.
The 22-year-old Viterbo University student vanished around 2:30 a.m. on July 20 while walking home from Broncos Bar in La Crosse, Wisconsin, after a night out with friends.
Her body was found three days later, just before 10:30 a.m. on July 23, by a fisherman in the river near Brownsville, Minnesota — more than a dozen miles from where she was last seen, authorities said.
FISHERMAN FOUND WISCONSIN GRAD STUDENT FACE DOWN MISSISSIPPI RIVER DAYS AFTER MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
Eliotte Heinz, 22, vanished after last being spotted on a late night walk in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on July 20, 2025. (Amber Heinz; La Crosse Police Department )
There was “no gross evidence of trauma,” according to the autopsy report, which noted that there were no indications of foul play, physical assault or inflicted harm.
Authorities were desperately searching for missing grad student Eliotte Heinz, 22, who was last seen early on July 20, 2025. Her body was recovered in the Mississippi River on July 23, 2025. (Amber Heinz)
Toxicology tests showed Heinz had no drugs in her system, though she tested positive for alcohol. She had 193 mg/dL of ethanol in her system, according to the report, which is roughly a 0.19% Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC).
According to health experts, a BAC of 0.19% is associated with severe impairment to gross motor skills, speech, vision and reasoning. For comparison, the standard legal limit for driving is 0.08%.
Heinz was last seen walking along the Mississippi River waterfront at about 3:30 a.m. and later spotted on surveillance footage heading toward her apartment, which was less than a mile away.
The owner of a marina bar near the location where Heinz’s body was spotted told Fox News Digital in July that the young fisherman found the body face down and wrapped in duckweed. The body could be seen from the shore.
WISCONSIN STUDENT ELIOTTE HEINZ’S MISSISSIPPI RIVER DEATH REIGNITES SAFETY CONCERNS IN COLLEGE TOWN
Jonathan Strike, who lived in Heinz’s apartment building, told Fox News at the time that Heinz had only moved in a few months ago, but her kindness radiated in the community.
“Very sweet, quiet girl,” Strike said. “[She] always said ‘Hi’ every time she walked by. Ever since she moved in, [she] always made an attempt to be as friendly as she can be, even with my dog jumping all over everybody. It’s just heartbreaking.”
Heinz’s family released a statement to Fox News Digital in July remembering the 22-year-old as a “beautiful person.”
Eliotte Heinz, 22, was a graduate student at Viterbo University in Wisconsin. (Amber Heinz)
“She was smart, funny, caring, and loved fiercely by us. We don’t know why we were so blessed to have her as a daughter, or why we are unable to keep her,” it read, in part. “She is amazing and would have continued to amaze us. We are devastated that she is no longer with us. Our family will forever have a missing piece.”
“Eliotte’s walk home is finished. Unfortunately, our family’s walk down this new hard path is just beginning. We love you Eliotte,” the statement concluded.
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The University of Wisconsin River Watch, a program started in 2006 to prevent alcohol-related accidental drownings, reported that eight college students drowned in the Mississippi River as a result of excessive drinking between 1997 and 2006.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch, Stepheny Price and Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
