GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — New questions are being raised about the death of a Grand Valley State University student while he visited Michigan State University in October 2021.
Brendan Santo, 18, was found dead in the Red Cedar River a few months later. The county’s medical examiner ruled the death an accidental drowning and the case was closed. But now, a private investigator says that should not have happened.
“The family deserves closure,” Ryan Robison, a licensed private detective and certified fraud examiner looking into Santo’s death, told News 8 Tuesday. “It’s almost like they’re reliving the loss of their son again. We don’t know what happened to him.”
Santo went to MSU to visit friends for the football game against University of Michigan. He was last seen leaving Yakeley Hall just before midnight Oct. 29 and walking near Michigan Avenue and Beal Street. That’s when he disappeared . Authorities launched a search .
Robison said his wife Katie had followed the case closely and encouraged him to get involved.