A Minnesota family spent Christmas Day looking for a missing family member.
George Musser, 20, a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, was reported missing on Christmas Eve. He was last seen leaving a bar without a coat. The legal age to drink is 21.
He was found dead by authorities in Baytown Township on Sunday, Christmas Day, at around 7 pm.
Musser was last seen at the Minneapolis-St. Paul area Brian’s Bar and Grill on Christmas Eve before disappearing. A bar customer said she spoke to him at around 1:30 am.
“He came over to the booth where I was sitting with my friends and he talked to us,” Alley MacKay recollected. “And he told us he had to visit the washroom and he never returned back.”
Musser’s keys and wallet were found outside near the bar and his car was found in the parking lot. The weather was -2 degrees, and the 20-year-old had left the bar wearing jeans, a gray flannel top, and a black hat.
A search was launched by family members to find Musser on the night he went missing, and they broke for the night and resumed the following morning.
Sunday morning, family and friends, including 100 volunteers, launched a massive search for the young man. They searched the entire day for the missing man in the freezing cold.
On Sunday, Stillwater police confirmed that they had informed Musser’s family about his death.
In an update on Wednesday, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office released new information about the circumstances leading up to the student’s death.
In a press release, the Sheriff’s Office said that Musser left the bar at around 2 am when temperatures were below zero.
Available video footage showed a young man walking at around 2:20 am from downtown Stillwater in the direction that his body was found, not dressed for the cold weather.
Authorities have concluded that Musser died from the freezing weather, but an autopsy will make the final determination.
Family and friends held a candlelight vigil for Musser on Monday.