UPDATE 4:15 p.m.: Dead body found in residence-hall utility room at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE – A Purdue worker investigating a noise coming from a residence hall utility room found a body Monday inside, a campus official said.\nPurdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said it was too early to know whether the body discovered about noon in Owen Hall is that of Purdue freshman Wade Steffey, 19, who went missing Jan. 13.\n“Owen Hall is indeed the last place where Wade Steffey was seen,” she said, adding that the room is not accessible from the residence hall.\nNorberg said she did not know whether the body was male or female. The coroner was investigating, she said, and as of 2:45 p.m., the body remained inside.\nSomeone heard a “pinging” noise coming from inside the room and called the campus utility department, asking it to investigate.\n“The utility worker went in and found a body in this room. It’s a high-voltage area,” Norberg said. “She was traumatized. It’s a very difficult situation for her.”\nPower was cut to the residence hall while the body was removed from what she described as a transformer room filled with high-voltage connections.\nShe also said that the ground-level utility room is not accessible from Owen Hall and is locked with two sets of keys, one each for two sets of doors.\nNorberg said that when the building was searched for clues into Steffey’s disappearance, the utility room was apparently not examined because it was locked.\n“Right now we don’t know how this deceased individual would have gained entry. That’s certainly a question we need to answer, but right now our most important concern is with this individual’s family,” she said.\nSteffey, of Bloomington, was last seen leaving a fraternity party on the north side of campus.\nHe was reported missing after friends returned from the school’s three-day break for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and could not find him.