Officers who responded to a report of an unattended death at McDavis Hall on the Athens campus Monday, September 14, 2026, found first-year student Mason Bohm dead in his room, and Ohio University police are now investigating.
The Ohio University Police Department (OUPD) said Bohm was pronounced dead at the scene and that his next of kin has been notified. Based on preliminary information, the department said, police have no reason to believe the death represents a threat to the safety of the university community.
Bohm, a freshman in the university’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology, lived in McDavis Hall, a residence hall in the South Green area of the Athens campus.
What Police Have Said
The investigation is continuing, OUPD said, and the department is withholding additional details about Bohm’s death for now.
Police use the phrase “unattended death” for a death with no medical professional or other authorized person present. The term, on its own, says nothing about how a person died.
Nothing further has come from police beyond that initial account of the response to McDavis Hall, the identification of Bohm and the assessment that the campus community is not in danger.
Police Ask for Information
Investigators are seeking information from anyone who recently interacted with Bohm, or who has details relevant to the investigation, and have asked them to call Ohio University Police Department Lt. D.J. McCollister at 740-593-1911 or email police@ohio.edu.
University Statement to the Campus
Ohio University sent a statement to the campus community on September 15 that identified Bohm as a freshman in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology and relayed OUPD’s belief that the death does not threaten campus safety.
Ohio University Interim Dean of Students Scott Bye said in the statement: “We recognize that this can be a difficult time; our top priority is supporting the health and well-being of our students, and we want you to know that there are University resources that stand ready to support them.”
That same message directed students and employees to campus counseling and support services and offered anyone in distress a chance to speak with counseling staff. Officials also urged people on campus to look out for one another as they process the death.
The sequence police and the university have laid out is a narrow one. The report of an unattended death came in on the afternoon of September 14. The university’s message to the campus community followed on September 15, the same day the first local news reports appeared, and further coverage of the investigation was published September 16.
No cause of death has been made public. Ohio University police said they are not able to release more information at this stage of the investigation.
