USC Grad Student's Decomposed Body Found Week After Death

LOS ANGELES, CA – Authorities were investigating the death of a 24-year-old graduate student whose body was found a week after he died by a cleaning crew at a residence hall on the USC Health Sciences Campus. No foul play was suspected in the death of Jacob Kelley, according to Assistant Chief David Carlisle of the USC Department of Public Safety. Kelley was identified in a letter issued by a USC dean.

The body was discovered about 2:20 p.m. Wednesday at Seaver Hall, in the 1900 block of Zonal Avenue, coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. An autopsy was pending, according to Winter, who said the body was decomposed.

Los Angeles police Detective David Alvarez told the Daily Trojan the cleaning crew of the residence hall smelled a foul odor and found the student, who had been dead for about seven days, in his apartment.

"It is with great sadness that we write to inform you of the passing of a member of our Keck School community," Dr. Rohit Varma of the Keck School of Medicine wrote in a letter distributed to KSOM students, staff and faculty.

"Jacob Kelley was a first-year student in the Master of Science in Medical Physiology program," Varma said in his letter. "Jacob's family has been notified of their son's passing."

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this report; Image via WikiCommons