Foul Play Ruled Out In NJ College Student Death: Police

SUMMIT, NJ — State College Police have ruled out foul play in the death of Justine Gross, the 19-year-old from Summit who fell 11 stories down a trash chute while a student at Penn State University.

The Centre County Coroner revealed Thursday that that Gross's autopsy showed marijuana and alcohol in her liver tissue at the time of her death on Nov. 10 and that her death was an accident.

Gross's mother, Francoise, told NJ Advance Media that investigators said her daughter died from "an accidental fall down the chute after smoking a 'blunt' with a man in his apartment."

Francoise told NJ.com that her daughter went headfirst down the trash chute and fractured her skull. State College reported that the cause of her death was "multiple acute blunt force trauma, due to a fall."

An analysis from the coroner's office detected traces of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and an "elevated" level of alcohol in Gross's liver.

Despite the police ruling that there was no foul play involved, Francoise told NJ.com that she does not accept the theory that her daughter was so high on marijuana that she jumped down a trash chute.

She told NJ.com that the autopsy did not include a rape kit to swab for DNA and check for signs of sexual assault.

Gross was a graduate of Summit High School's class of 2020. She was reported missing on Nov. 10 and was found dead the next morning at a local recycling center — about 27 hours after hallway surveillance video captured her running into the trash chute.

State College Police showed the mother a sequence of surveillance videos where Gross is seen entering an apartment on the seventh floor of the building and then seen about 40 minutes later with a man, walking unsteadily with a water bottle and rubbing her face, according to NJ.com.

Another video shows Gross and the man on the 10th floor, and instead of dropping her off at her apartment on the same floor, the man leaves her in the hallway. The video sequence next shows Gross on the 11th floor, barefoot and alone as she rushes into the chute room and is not seen again, according to the mother who told NJ.com.

Because Gross's flip-flops, cell phone and wallet were later found on the stairwell, Francoise suggested to NJ.com that she believes her daughter was being chased.

State College Police Department said it is ending its investigation into this incident.

"Our condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Gross and we hope the community can continue to respect their grieving process," Police stated.

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