Found Deceased Italy - John Durkin, 21, Rome, 19 February 2014

[danzn16]

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article/270813/112/Bates-College-student-found-dead-in-Rome

How very sad. I hope they give details soon whether it was an accident or if someone is responsible


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[Dixie811]

Very, very sad. But I am not surprised, as these stories of young men going missing after a night at the bar never seem to end well =(

John seems like he was a great guy with a great amount of potential. What a loss.

As a society, we put a lot of importance on young women not separating from their friends during a night out, and utilizing the 'buddy system'. We need to also stress the importance of this to our young men, as well.

 

[caronant]

According to the Facebook search page maintained by his family, "It is with much sadness that the Durkin family informs you of the loss of John Nolen Durkin and thanks everyone for their support during the past few days"

 

[rizzo0904]

So sorry to hear this. That poor family.

 

[otto]

"Durkin was found inside a railroad tunnel in central Rome, according to authorities. Police believe Durkin was run over by a train. An investigation is under way to certify the circumstances of his death."

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/02/22/john-durkin-american-student-missing-italy

 

[liljim]

RIP

hearing far too much about young men leaving bars alone and paying with their lives lately

 

[Hap]

"Durkin was found inside a railroad tunnel in central Rome, according to authorities. Police believe Durkin was run over by a train. An investigation is under way to certify the circumstances of his death."

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/02/22/john-durkin-american-student-missing-italy

omg, how awful. I hope that details of how he ended up there are released.

 

[LookingHoping]

Second time, same trip…27 yrs apart. http://www.trinitydc.edu/ministry/sharon-lamont-charde-64/

"And then, in May of 1987, my younger son Geoffrey died in a fall from a wall in Trastervere in Rome where he was on his junior year abroad and loving every minute of it. The circumstances of his death are mysterious despite a thorough police investigation, and we still have unanswered questions about another’s involvement, although asthma was determined as the cause of his fall, but the simple fact was, he was gone from me, from us. My older son Matthew graduated from college right after his funeral and left home in September for Boston. Everything had changed. Grief consumed me for years. My life and my marriage were totally destabilized. My body flew away from my mind, in the disconnection that is so common in trauma survivors. My work became harder and harder as my own suffering got in the way, as I felt anger at parents for neglecting their kids, not a good thing for a family therapist to feel. It was time to do something different, to find other tools for coping with this new life. I remembered that I had always loved writing and decided to go out to Taos to study writing with Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down The Bones. It was a very different kind of writing than I had learned in my college years. You just put pen to paper and wrote what came to your mind first from a prompt she would give us, like “I remember.” “Go for the jugular, go for first thoughts, don’t think, keep your hand moving,” she told us. “You are free to write and say anything you want and it doesn’t have to be good.” And I wrote and wrote, the details of his death, my life, his life–everything was material. My suffering was material. I couldn’t stop writing. In one of my many trips to Taos I met Clara, a psychic, who told me I needed to meditate. I scoffed at the idea but eventually ended up at a vipassana meditation retreat at the Lama foundation in New Mexico. We slept in tents on the side of a mountain and walked and sat cross-legged in silence for ten days. It was life changing. Since that time I have been on over thirty Buddhist retreats, and am deeply committed to the dharma. Over the years in continuing my practice of both writing and meditation I have been able to not only let go of the grief that I had been carrying for so long, but to become aware of what is in my mind in a new and powerful way, and to have the confidence to let that awareness guide my choices and my path. I have learned to see my body and soul/mind not as separate entities but as interdependent and necessarily so. And I have also, more importantly, discovered that what needed changing was not only the world but myself. And that a changed and more peaceful me could and would affect others in my life in a way that was different from actively trying to make that change happen. And so I have been led to the work I do today, volunteering as a writing teacher with teenage girls in a residential treatment center that they call a lockup."

And a heartwrenching poem by Geoffrey's mom: https://www.hartnell.edu/homestead_review/fa01/charde.htm

 

[~n/t~]

Condolences to the family

 

[Elainera]

How sad!

Left his things behind, gets run over by a train ... was he very drunk?

Tragic. My condolences to the family.

 

[Public_Hysteria]

John is a linebacker for Bates College. 6'1, 210 pounds, definitely a guy that could defend himself in a normal situation.

What makes this situation particularly odd is that John left all his important belongings at the Spanish bar: phone, wallet, and passport. The friends that had last seen him said he was not notably drunk and was not a known drug user. While it has not been ruled out, a significant amount of Bates students that know John have expressed serious disbelief at the idea that John may have gone off to find drugs.

For starters, IF he were out trying to find drugs I doubt he left without his wallet. And it seems quite random for someone who is not a known drug user in the slightest, to all of a sudden decide that the best time to go and find some drugs would be on a fun night out with friends, especially without TELLING his friends that's where he was going. I don't in the slightest believe that was why he left the bar.

Have to wonder if he may have been slipped something in a drink, its been known to happen. It would make sense where he left his belongings behind. This is a big kid…

It would definitely explain a lot, because I think a guy of his size and age would definitely know how to hold his booze. For him to leave behind his belongings is a big red flag that something wasn't right that night. I think he may have misjudged how much he had to drink that night though, and ended up suffering a terrible accident.

He should not have ended up walking home on his own, without any of his belongings or his friends. Which leads me to my next point...

Unfortunately we have enough of these cases that we know how it usually ends. Guy goes out to bar with friends, by end of evening they're separated for whatever reason, and guy disappears, usually found deceased later. :sigh:

Young people, if you're going out drinking, partying, bar hopping, whatever - stay together. Don't let one wander off alone or walk home alone, whatever. Even if they don't look drunk. Sometimes when drinking the buzz or drunk takes a bit to hit you. And either way, some folks just hide it well. Always stay together!!

Such a simple piece of advice, it makes me sad how many deaths could be avoided if young people just stuck together! I have never let a friend walk home alone, or left them behind not knowing if they made it home safely. I don't understand how this happens so often.

How sad!

Left his things behind, gets run over by a train ... was he very drunk?

Tragic. My condolences to the family.

Sadly, I think he may have gotten lost, or thought he would take a shortcut through the tunnel, but misjudged because he had been drinking that night. I hope he did not suffer.

My thoughts are with his friends and family during this difficult time. Rest in peace, John. :rose:

 

[LookingHoping]

Was it the Rome Metro System or the actual railway system he was found on? Does it say anywhere?

 

[LookingHoping]

Let's map this, because it seems it would be far off from the dorms http://www.wcvb.com/news/missing-ba...um=facebook&utm_campaign=wcvb+channel+5+oston I don't think this kid just wandered off to here and fell in a tunnel, This sounds like the metro system to me, but maybe wrong. Posting then researching (backwards I know)

 

[LookingHoping]

Where Trinity College Rome Campus is: http://www.rollins.edu/int-programs/programs/rollins-programs/rome-trinity/index.html

Aventine Area and Campo Dei Fiori: http://www.romanlife-romeitaly.com/aventine.html


Map of one of two Metro systems in Rome: http://www.rome.info/metro/

Metro stop Trastevere Green Piramide (we're talking Trevi Fountain/Spanish Steps Amazing area but very confusing!): http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...ro_stop_closest_to_Trastevere-Rome_Lazio.html

Vatican Metro Stop: Red Cipro "Musei Vaticani" (I can't imagine he want all the way into that stop, but shows the vicinity and how wrong this trip would be compared to where the campus and dorms should be. I may be way off, so check these… it all works in my mind and mapping of the areas) Same map: http://www.rome.info/metro/


Map from campus to Piazza Camp Dei Fiori to Vatican City to Trastevere: https://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=4...z., Italy___e_&mode=D&rtop=0~0~0~&form=LMLTCC

Those are not close by, those stations. Which park would be considered the large park the tunnel was under per the article I posted above?


my rough map of Trinity to piazza where bar(s) were to the stops for the areas mentioned in the article above:

 

[LookingHoping]

Thinking this would be the area… looks like three parks. Sorry but this makes no sense with where he was and where his dormitory was.

 

[mpnola]

I don't even really like to mention this, but leaving all of your belongings behind and ending up in a train tunnel and ultimately, getting run over by the train has some strong suicide indications, to me. Whatever happened, I am so sad for his family.

 

[kiwijayne]

I don't even really like to mention this, but leaving all of your belongings behind and ending up in a train tunnel and ultimately, getting run over by the train has some strong suicide indications, to me. Whatever happened, I am so sad for his family.

Maybe he went off to the toilet and met a girl on the way? He might have had all the intentions of going back to get them.

 

[danzn16]

I don't even really like to mention this, but leaving all of your belongings behind and ending up in a train tunnel and ultimately, getting run over by the train has some strong suicide indications, to me. Whatever happened, I am so sad for his family.

I don't know any man that would take his wallet and passport out of his pants and place them on the bar counter. Those things are easily stolen and are valuable. It makes me lean towards them being purposely left. I wonder if his demeanor was different that night according to his friends?


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[Hap]

"Family members had flown from Rye, in New Hampshire, to Italy to help with the search, but his body was spotted in a tunnel by a passenger on a train on Thursday." How on earth did he end up in that train tunnel? It is not near the bar, not on his way back to his dorm.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ege-student-missing-Rome-studying-abroad.html

I am so sad for his family. They have lost their child, and so publicly. I almost feel guilty even posting. RIP, John.

 

[Hap]

Puzzled and saddened by this whole thing.
Looks like it is still under investigation.

"The Italian newspaper Roma Today said a train station camera shows a young man walking alone on the tracks overnight. Investigators said Durkin walked about a mile before entering the tunnel where his body was found.

How he ended up in the tunnel and why he had no identification isn't clear."


http://www.wmur.com/news/investigation-continues-in-students-death-in-rome/24648248