The Blacksburg Police Department confirmed Wednesday morning that Virginia Tech sophomore Sam Wendler died on Friday, Jan. 21 in his room in an off-campus apartment complex.
A Pennsylvania newspaper first reported Wendler's death over the weekend.
Wendler, 19, was a graduate of Susquehannock High School in Pennsylvania, according to his obituary in his hometown newspaper, the York Daily Record.
A press release from Lt. Steve Taylor of the Blacksburg Police on Wednesday morning said "Blacksburg Police and Rescue were dispatched to the 500 block of Sunridge Drive for an unresponsive subject" around 8:20 p.m. Friday night.
"Preliminary investigation revealed that 19 year old Samuel James Wendler, a Virginia Tech student, was found dead in his room," the press release said.
Blacksburg Police did not give a cause of death Wednesday morning but said the investigation is still underway.
Tech officials were not available for comment Tuesday night. Wendler is listed as an industrial systems engineering major.
The Roanoke Times reported that Wendler lived in The Village apartment complex on Patrick Henry Drive in Blacksburg.
Wendler's friends were commenting on his Facebook wall Tuesday afternoon expressing sadness over his death.
According to the York Daily Record, Wendler's funeral is scheduled for for Saturday, Jan. 29 at Grace United Methodist Church in New Freedom, Pa. Visitation is 1 to 3 p.m., with a 3 p.m. private memorial service.
A spokeswoman from the church said Wednesday morning that Wendler was not a member of the church and that she did not know his family personally.
Check collegiatetimes.com for more updates as they are released.
A version of this article appeared in the Jan 26 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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That's a little odd, no one knows where he died? I mean was it here in blacksburg or at his hometown? That's a missing important piece of info that's usually included. I don't get it.
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I think that the article that appeared in the collegiate times could have been more sensitive. Sam was a great friend. The article was written with no feeling or emotion. I understand that people want to know the facts of the situation, but I do not think that who Sam was as a person should be forgotten. I think that someone should have talked to Sam’s friends and gotten a first hand perspective of home amazing Sam was. He was a great person to talk to. He would listen to all of your problems and could make anyone laugh on their saddest day. Sam will be greatly missed and the Blacksburg community will not be the same without him. Hokies respect, and I think in this situation the reporter could have respected that Sam’s friends would be reading this article and be hurt by the cold words.
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Anonymous 6:44 Really? its a college news paper and they had to rush to get the article in the paper.
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it says in his appt
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seriously, did you even read the article. The details are there..
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That's a little odd, no one knows where he died? I mean was it here in blacksburg or at his hometown? That's a missing important piece of info that's usually included. I don't get it.
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Per the article initially reported by the York PA Fox station, not the York area newspapers, Sam was found unresponsive in his Blacksburg, Va off-campus apartment.
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This may be why flags were lowered to half mast yesterday. I'm all for mourning the deaths of Tech students while they're attending, but there are rules in flag etiquette about lowering the flag.
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"This is to order that the flags of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Virginia shall be flown at half-staff on all local, state, and federal buildings and grounds in the Commonwealth of Virginia in respect and memory of Former Virginia Supreme Court Justice George Moffett Cochran."
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/notices/012511-vtpd-flagorder.html
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seriously dude? i really hope this was a joke
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Was it rush-week on campus? Could this be a rush related event?
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no it wasn'r rush week. school had just come back in session.
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Excellent, there's no information on his death so let's start blaming the Greek community. Always a good idea to initiate reckless, offensive speculation.
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You obviously did not know Sam at all. keep your smart ass comment and speculations to you self. His friends and family do not need your OPINION. You have no idea how cutting your comment was and how it affected the people who KNEW and LOVED Sam.
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REALITY is that you are so far removed from this young man's life and you have no place to preach about the dangers of drinking. if anyone comments on this article it should be in memory of the beautiful person he was, not grasping at straws for some sort of sensational story. you disgust me.
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It is never a bad time to remind students of how easily they can be poisoned by alcohol, caffeine+alcohol or any foreign substances. Partying responsibly also means using the buddy system and not going off alone until you are reasonably sober again.
Sam's death may have nothing to do with partying at all, but since people think it did, would he resent this chance to pass on a potentially life-saving message to Freshmen?
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Sure it is. If the topic of an article is that a person died, without introducing any speculation about drug and alcohol involvement, it is not very sympathetic to exploit the incident and make assumptions to tell people to be careful when drinking. Given that students already have to take an alcohol awareness course upon enrolling, I doubt such comments do any good; instead they just raise hostility.
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I think it's sad that you would even assume that Sam died of alcohol poisoning. Just because his facebook page said Drink? doesn't mean he died from alcohol poisoning, stop being a creeper and looking at people's facebooks and assuming bad things. Sam was a wonderful person who was growing his hair out to donate it to kids with cancer.I doubt that if you have/had a kid in college and they died, you wouldn't want people to make an assumption that he or she died of alcohol poisoning.
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I think it's sad that you would even assume that Sam died of alcohol poisoning. Just because his facebook page said Drink? doesn't mean he died from alcohol poisoning, stop being a creeper and looking at people's facebooks and assuming bad things. Sam was a wonderful person who was growing his hair out to donate it to kids with cancer.I doubt that if you have/had a kid in college and they died, you wouldn't want people to make an assumption that he or she died of alcohol poisoning.
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Time will tell.
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"A mom," I am glad that you're not my mom. Alcohol awareness initiatives abound. Students are aware of the risks. The mentality that every tragic death with an unknown cause should bring about a discussion on the evils of college drinking does nothing to help. It only makes people not want to listen to you.
As a side note, you may be interested to know that, based on 2005 data, malignant neoplasms, heart disease, and congenital anomalies account for more deaths among 20-24-year-olds than all types of poisoning combined (any of which could be the case here). Traffic accidents, homicide, and suicide all far exceed poisoning as well (presumably not the case here, but still worth noting if you want to pick the topic with the greatest risk). So you can see why your conclusion seems not only heartless, but an unfair generalization.
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RIP Sam...As a recent VT Industrial and Systems Engineering grad, this is truly sad to hear.
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I wonder what it could have been? Alcohol, drug overdose?
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Shut Up and don't just say that it could have been Alcohol or a Drug overdose, it could have been anything. Don't Assume!
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yeah but its not normal for a 19 year old to die, AND when a 19 year old DOES die, and its not in a car accident, its usually from drugs including alcohol.
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Just checked his facebook, there are no sad comments.
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excuse me but there are no sad comments because you cant see the things his friends post and he only has 47 friends because he didnt accept people. you obbviously didnt know Sam at all and he was a VERY close family friend of mine and i grew up with him. i would like the comments on here to stop and be in rememberence of him, not saying he made bad decisions because he was actually a very great kid and everyone is going to miss him.
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then why did his facebook talk about drinking all the time.
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You didn't know him. He was a great person. Do not pass judgement on someone you did not know. He was loved and loved many.
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In respect to Sam's family and friends we ask that people please, please stop speculating about how he died. My cousin was someone who lived more in his short time on earth than most of us will ever live in a lifetime. His FB wall is covered with positive comments and fond memories because that's the kind of person Sam was. He was someone who inspired love out of family and friends and he should be remembered for that. It's his life we should be concentrating on, not his death. Please think before you comment. Thank you.
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I will never forget how funny and crazy Sam was. He was an awesome kid who you could not help but laugh at everything he said. I still can't believe it happened. RIP Sam
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HokieGrad - well said
As a parent of a student that graduated HS with Sam, and knew him for many years, I could not have put it better. Sam accomplished a lot in his years on this earth and we, as a community, are shocked and heartbroken upon hearing of his passing. Condolences to his family as they deal with their grief in the coming days, weeks, and years.
Sam, rest in peace, until we meet again
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sam was a great person. i knew him pretty well and graduated with his brother. he was a remarkable person and it is extremely upsetting to hear of this news
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Sooo...How did he die? I don't want to speculate, I just want to know what caused it.
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You are so immature. This is very serious to some of us. He was a great person so keep your childish remarks to yourself and let us remember the amazing person some of us have lost. It is not important how he died all that matters is that he will never be completly gone from the people who loved him
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Its very important how he died. If its because he ate something from a restaurant that has something wrong with it. Or maybe a gas leak in the Village. Or alcohol in which case Blacksburg stores with licenses to sell alcohol should step up their game. Yes it is horrible that this young man died. And to his family and friends my prayers are with you. No I did not know him personally. However I think its important that whatever caused this unfortunate event is made known in an effort to prevent it from happening again.
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Is it really that important how it happened? Chri$t, what if this was the early 90's and there was no push to get a story out the door before the journalist got his/her facts straight? Could you handle that?
This happened on FRIDAY - if the cause was something life threatening to anyone else, it would have been handled by the cops/town by now, and if you were threatened directly you would know well before the Collegiate Times. Is that so hard to believe?
To the CT: THERE IS NO COMPETING PAPER IN TOWN. GET A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF FACTS BEFORE YOU WRITE A STORY.
And all of you drama queens commenting that have to know what happened 2 seconds after the press release, try to be patient. You're making a mockery of this kid's death. What will his family think when they read your comments? Does that even matter to you, since you're hiding behind your computer screen?
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How can you expect people to NOT want to know? In the near term this question isn't important but it will have to be answered in the coming weeks.
For those who did not know him closely it's only natural that we want to know what caused this tragedy. Most importantly so we know how to stop it from happening to another great tech student or friend of ours. Would you rather people share their condolences and be curious or not care at all? Many people die every day and are never even in the local news. Luckily this guy is. Why make a story out of this but never have the central question answered. How or why he died, and could it have been prevented? What did we miss or overlook with Sam and how can we prevent this happening again?
Since young 19 year old kids rarely die of natural causes in their bedrooms, there's really only two probable scenarios. It's either alcohol or drug related.
Perhaps someday it'll be answered but until then we share our condolences. Remind others to be careful with alcohol and drugs and be aware of each others roommates.
God bless!
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I would like to agree with your post, but I think you are exaggerating by saying "there's really only two probable scenarios" for this happening.
RIP Sam
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You are naive if you think there are only 2 probable causes for his death. What about medical issues? dummy.
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Let's surmise about how it happened and make a comment in the paper based on NOTHING so that we can start a rumor!!! What a great way to respect the guy!
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drugs and alcohol are the same thing.
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There arent only two scenarios. . .Sam actually died of a seizure. He layed down to sleep because he wasnt feeling well and he will never wake again.
I miss your smiling face Sam. . .I smiled as soon as I would see you!
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It's always interesting to me that every person that dies ever is "such a great/wonderful/loving/caring/friendly person" who "lived a fuller life than most other people could even imagine". Just interesting is all.
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Jochebed, you're an ass.
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I can't believe how pathetic you are, you say that you don't understand why people remember others passing by them being kind, respectful, etc. I bet you would want to be remembered as a kind person who loved life, but it seems you're just a pathetic, no good, hateful person who shouldn't be admired by anyone. By the way, Sam was a very kind person who always looked for the good in people and loved every second of life. He even was growing his hair out to donate it to kids with cancer.
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Haha. Exactly... One step from sainthood...8402 nternment
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Roanoke Times had a better article on it. http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/275062 it breaks my heart to see something like this happen. He sounds like he was a wonderful person with big dreams.
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A mother and father have lost their son; Zach has lost his only brother; many have lost a great friend. Let them have peace. Some of these comments are so hurtful - and immature. Yes, an answer to the cause of his death may put things to rest. Will it change the outcome? No. It surely will not bring Sam back. Eventually, the cause of his death will be known. Until then, let him and the intergrity of who Sam really is, rest. At least have some respect for his family. Parents should NEVER bury their children. It is a loss much too deep to fathom.
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Wow...I hate to use this forum to point out that nobody reads the CT anyway. Just look at the racks and you'll see that over HALF of the papers are left there each day. They charge their advertisers for copies that end up in the trash. What a waste. The CT has become nothing more than a way for the university to make some extra money by charging businesses for ads that don't even reach the students.
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Anon 1:49, you have no idea how many CT's are printed every day, so your half comment means absolutely nothing. If they print 5000 copies, that's 2500 people that could be reached by advertising. Plus, the advertising is a lot cheaper than going to a larger publication. Finally, the CT is independent of Tech. If they made a profit, it stays with them, not the school.
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I would just like to say that our community is reeling in the loss of Sam Wendler. Anyone who is posting please, please consider this. We love this boy and his family. They are the heart of our small town. This child and his family are very dear to us and we all know that if it happened to our Sam...it could happen to us. God Bless the Wendler Family. You have the ones that love you and Sam the most behind you and supporting you every step of the way
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Saturday, January 28th, a memorial service was held for Sam Wendler in Shrewsbury, PA. I would like to thank those members of the Virginia Tech community who were able to make it up, especially Sam's two roommates who were able to get up and speak. We need to remember these two young men in our thoughts and prayers as they were probably the last to interact with Sam. Sam was remembered as a son, a brother, a friend, a teammate, and as someone who always, always had a huge grin. Thanks again for being there for the Wendler family and friends. When someone ask "Where's Sam ?", he's watching over us, he's in our memories, and he is in our hearts forever.
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Sorry, Saturday, January 29th.
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Thank you for this. . .Sam will be missed by so many people.
As I posted earlier, his death had NOTHING to do with alcohol or drugs. Sam died of a medical condition, a seizure took the life of a great friend of mine. Everyday will be different, just a little cloudier because he is no longer here with us. . .
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