Early in the morning of February 11, Erin Hawk died of unknown causes in her room in Harrill Residence Hall.
Last week, Director of Public Safety Gene McAbee delivered Hawk’s medications to Dr. Keith Ingram in the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill, where Hawk had been sent for an autopsy.
Hawk’s autopsy showed no signs of foul play, said McAbee, and there will be no signinficant results from the toxicology tests for another few months.
Hawk’s father, a physician, expained to McAbee that when a person has an asthma attack, the breathing muscles contract and shut off the airflow. If the person dies as a result of the attack, the muscles relax and it is very difficult to detect that an attack occurred.
Hawk’s room in Harrill has been sealed and will remain so until authorities receive results from the toxicology tests.
