Police investigate student’s death

Published 11:09 am Thursday, December 11, 2014

BEMIDJI — Police said a criminal investigation is under way into the death of a Bemidji State University nursing student from Bloomington.

Twenty-year-old Sandra Lommen was suffering from intoxication and hypothermia when emergency responders found her in a wooded area Wednesday morning. She died later at Sanford Medical Center.

Bemidji Police Chief Mike Mastin said her death is part of a criminal investigation, but it’s not necessarily a homicide investigation. He would not say whether the investigation is looking at how she obtained the alcohol, saying he didn’t want to jeopardize the investigation.

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Lommen was a freshman at Bemidji State, where she lived in a dormitory on campus. She was on the fall dean’s list.

Bemidji State President Richard Hanson informed the campus about her death in an email Wednesday.