There was nothing new to report this morning in the investigation of Rylan Cotter’s death.

Det. Lt. Dave Cincoski of the Chesterton Police Department issued this statement at 8:30 a.m.: “As of today’s date, the investigation into the death of Rylan Cotter is still ongoing. At the time of this release, the investigation has led to the continued questioning and interviewing of friends, relatives, and acquaintances of Rylan Cotter. No new information is available for dissemination.”

Cincoski was pursuing the investigation in Michigan today and was not available for comment.

Anyone with information which might be pertinent to the investigation—or who may have seen Cotter or her vehicle on Monday, Jan. 7, or anytime after—is urged to call Cincoski at 926-1136. Cotter was wearing a black fleece jacket, brown trousers, tennis shoes, and multi-colored gloves when her body was found at 1:05 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 9, at the northwest edge of the Brassie Golf Course, in the area of the fifth and sixth holes, near an electric tower, approximately one half mile from her vehicle, a maroon 1997 Oldsmobile four-door, parked in the lot for the Prairie Duneland Trail off Babcock Road.

Photos of Cotter and her vehicle were published in Monday’s edition of the Chesterton Tribune.

Porter County Coroner Victoria Deppe has ruled the cause of death to be massive blunt force trauma to the chest and abdomen. The circumstances of her death, however, remain undetermined.

Cotter, 20, was a junior at Michigan State University, where she was majoring in international relations. She left her apartment in East Lansing, Mich., in the middle of the night of Jan. 7, spent a few hours in a motel in Benton Harbor, Mich., and was next verifiably seen around 4:30 or 5 p.m. that day both walking along the Prairie Duneland Trail and sitting in her car parked in the lot. Deppe estimated that she had been dead from 24 to 36 hours when a Brassie employee discovered her body.

Posted 1/16/2008