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Penn State tragedy

Centre County coroner reveals cause of Penn State student’s death

BY BRET PALLOTTO

February 10, 2018 11:50 AM

Updated February 11, 2018 01:10 AM

Penn State student William Denton, 19, died of a multidrug overdose in his Miller Hall dorm room last month, according to Centre County coroner Scott Sayers. The death was ruled as accidental.

Denton, who was a second-year student, was found dead on Jan. 8 after his family requested a welfare check after losing contact with him, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers previously told the Centre Daily Times.

Denton was an undergraduate student studying health policy and administration. He was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. The fraternity members organized a candlelight vigil at Old Main on Jan. 18 to remember Denton.

The Centre County Can Help hotline, which can be reached by calling 800-643-5432, is available to anyone in Centre County who might be having a drug, alcohol or mental health crisis.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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