Ohio University police are investigating the death of Mason Bohm, a first-year student found dead inside his room at McDavis Hall on the Athens campus after officers responded to a report of an unattended death on Monday, September 14, 2026.
Bohm was pronounced dead at the scene, and his next of kin has been notified, the Ohio University Police Department (OUPD) said. Preliminary information gave police no reason to believe the death represents a threat to the safety of the university community, the department said.
Bohm was a freshman in the university’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology and lived in McDavis Hall, which sits in the South Green area of the Athens campus.
What Police Have Said
OUPD said its investigation is continuing and that it is withholding additional details about Bohm’s death for now.
“Unattended death” is standard police language for a death with no medical professional or other authorized person present, and it does not by itself indicate how a person died.
Beyond the initial account of the response to McDavis Hall, the identification of Bohm and the assessment that the campus community is not in danger, police have released nothing further.
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 OUPD Lt. D.J. McCollister at 740-593-1911 or email police@ohio.edu.
University Statement to the Campus
On September 15, Ohio University sent a statement to the campus community identifying Bohm as a freshman in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology and relaying that OUPD believes the death does not threaten campus safety.
“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,” Ohio University Interim Dean of Students Scott Bye said in the statement.
In the same message, the university pointed students and employees toward campus counseling and support services, and it offered those experiencing distress the chance to speak with counseling staff. Officials also urged people on campus to look out for one another as they process the death.
Police and the university have laid out a narrow sequence of events. 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 additional coverage of the investigation was published September 16.
Ohio University police said they are not able to release more information at this stage of the investigation, and no cause of death has been made public.