Ball State student found dead

MUNCIE -- A Ball State University student whose body was found in the backseat of a car died of a single gunshot wound to the head, an autopsy found Monday.\nInvestigators ruled out suicide in the death of 20-year-old Karl Harford of Carmel, Ind., and police did not have any suspects.\nToxicology tests were pending, but there was no indication drugs or alcohol played a role in the death, Delaware County Coroner James Clevenger said.\nThe weapon used in the shooting has not been found.\nHarford had been at a party Saturday night at a house near the Ball State campus. Police found his body and car on Sunday in an alley on the city's east side about two miles away, said Terry Winters, Muncie's deputy police chief.\nMonday, detectives were interviewing people who had been at the party.\nMuncie resident Robert Evans said he first noticed the car in the alley behind his home about 7 a.m. Sunday.\nThe car was sitting on a small smashed-over telephone terminal box and one of Evans' trash cans. The impact with the telephone equipment had knocked out neighborhood phone service.\nThere was no indication that Harford had been injured by the impact, Clevenger said. Harford's body was wedged in the back seat, half on the floorboard and half on the seat.\nA phone company repair worker arrived in the alley Sunday morning and spent several hours there, Evans said. The worker and Evans' nephew looked inside the car but did not see a body.\nAn officer found the body after Evans called police about the car when his phone service was restored Sunday afternoon.\nInvestigators did not know why Harford might have been in the neighborhood or how long the car had been there before it was discovered. The autopsy did not establish the time of death. One of Evans' neighbors said the phones were working at 5 a.m. Sunday.\n"His roommate did report him missing to authorities because he didn't come home," Clevenger said. "And then he was found across town"