On the Death of an IO Graduate Student

An I-O Psychology Ph.D. student at St. Mary’s University (Halifax, Canada) died last week at 28 while attending the EAWOP Conference in Turin, Italy. On June 5, his body was found in the Po River, which runs through the center of Turin. I have found my thoughts drifting to this tragedy several times per day, sometimes per hour, over the last week. I am not sure why it bothers me so deeply.

The obvious connection is that I was there, at the time. Not with the student, but in the city, at the conference. It was just an academic event like any other, like SIOP. Several graduate students from our Ph.D. program were also there. Perhaps it is because I wonder if the same thing could have happened to one of them, and how much worse that would’ve been, selfishly, for me. I also think back to a few moments when I stood on the banks of the Po watching the water flow by.

The details of what happened are still scant at this point, over a week later, although we do know a little. I learned of the event through the Pioneer Press and later the StarTribune, newspapers here in Minnesota, because the IO victim, Blair John, completed his Master’s degree in Psychology at the University of St. Thomas here in the Twin Cities, making the event local news. I recall seeing the summary of the article stating that the student, “was in Italy for a psychology conference” and thinking “It couldn’t be…” But it was. His mother is devastated, unsurprisingly, and trying to make sense of the situation: “I have a lot of questions and I am wondering why, why were they targeted because I do not believe it was an accident….I don’t have much to say…My son was a gem, he was a gem who was loved by all.”

Since then, Nicolas Roulin, who is on the faculty at St. Mary’s, wrote a kind and touching farewell on LinkedIn, noting the student’s accomplishments and awards. Nicolas supervised Blair on a research project, chatted with him about his dissertation plans. All so normal, and now ended. And Nicolas’ post triggered me to try to better understand what happened, to make sense of it.

Blair was Bahamian. This caused the story to make a bit of a kerfuffle in the Bahamian news circuit as well as the Italian. From the Bahamas Press, it appears that Blair was staying at an Airbnb in an affluent suburb of Turin with his friend Alrae Ramsey, whom he went to undergrad with. Ramsey was completing a postgraduate degree in diplomacy in Vienna. Equally tragically although less personal, his body was found in the Po River a day earlier, on June 4. The Bahamas became directly involved when a murder investigation was commenced; however, authorities found no evidence of violence or of robbery.

Beyond the circumstances of their deaths, there seem to be several smaller mysteries surrounding the broader situation. The Airbnb was booked for 4 nights for 3 people, although the owner never saw a third person. The room itself was also booked by a fourth person, seemingly a friend of Blair’s. There was also a bit of a mystery as to missing suitcases, which were apparently not in the Airbnb when police arrived, yet were somehow found later.

The direct cause of death was drowning in both cases. There seem to be two major folk hypotheses at this point. The first is that this was either a double-suicide or a suicide and a failed, tragic rescue attempt. The second, dominant hypothesis is instead that one fell in accidentally, and the other failed in trying to rescue him. The Po did appear to move quickly as I watched it that one day. Unless authorities happen to find a camera feed of wherever the event happened, we may never know for sure.

So. Here we are. I just realized that I tried to use research to make myself feel better about the situation and failed. I suppose that’s not really surprising.

At this point, I can only say to the friends and family of the deceased, to the extent that I can make such a claim, the hearts of the whole IO community are with you. I hope you are able to find some peace moving forward.