Daniel Osterkamp's toxicology report recently released
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Friday that Daniel G. Osterkamp, the former USC student found dead in DeSaussure College on the Horseshoe in September, died of an accidental drug overdose.
The details come from a recently finished toxicology report. Other media outlets say the coroner’s office told them morphine and amphetamine were among the mix of drugs that killed Osterkamp, but Watts said he did not provide that information.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is still leading an investigation. Eric Grabski, captain for USC’s Division of Law Enforcement and Safety, said he couldn’t make any comment until SLED makes an official conclusion. Housing spokeswoman Colleen Mullis said no housing officials were available Friday to speak on the residence hall death due to a conference.
Maggie Leitch, coordinator of USC’s Office of Substance Abuse Prevention and Education, said she was unfamiliar with the development but hopes students take the incident seriously and see it as a wake-up call.
“I just hope students really look at what they’re doing because we don’t want a repeat of this,” Leitch said. “It can happen to you, students aren’t immune to this.”
Osterkamp, 20, of Mount Pleasant studied classical guitar in Spring 2011 at USC but did not sign up for the fall. He was found unresponsive in a friend’s dorm room at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 3 and was declared dead at the scene.