Blaze Bernstein Update: New Details Revealed After University Of Pennsylvania Student Found Dead
New details have surfaced about the death of Blaze Bernstein, a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student found dead in a California park earlier this week. Bernstein was missing for a week before authorities discovered his body.
Bernstein was last seen at around 11 p.m. Jan 2 and was reported missing the next day, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He was visiting his family during college winter break when he disappeared. Police said Wednesday they were investigating Bernstein’s death as a homicide.
Documents obtained by the Orange County Register revealed information from one of the last people to see Bernstein alive. A friend from high school picked up Bernstein, who told them they would be meeting up with another friend. The pair drove to Borrego Park and arrived a little before midnight Jan. 2.
The friend said Bernstein got out of the car by himself and entered the park, the affidavit said, according to the Register. The friend said he waited for Bernstein to return for about an hour and tried to get in touch with him via SnapChat. He then left the park but later returned after Bernstein still hadn’t answered him, he said.
“The friend said Bernstein complained about his grades in school and ‘seemed depressed but never said anything about wanting to hurt himself,’” the documents said, according to the Register.
Two days after Bernstein went missing, authorities spoke to the same friend at the park and saw that he had “several small scratches and abrasions” on his hands and that he had dirt under his fingernails. The friend said the injuries were from a “fight club” he was part of and that the dirt had gotten there when he fell during the fight. Authorities said the friend was “breathing heavy, talking fast and visibly shaking.”
“On their way out of Sheriff’s Headquarters, [investigators] noticed every door [the friend] had to touch on the way out of the building he pulled his jacket over his hand to prevent his hand and fingers from touching any part of the doors he touched,” the document said, according to the Register.
Authorities had not yet released any information or statements regarding the affidavit.
“There has kind of been some rumors about them meeting a third person,” Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Carrie Braun told People magazine. “I don’t have specific information on that. At this point, the best thing to say is our investigators are actively following up on every lead that they can that will lead to an arrest of a suspect in this case.”
Police had not yet revealed his cause of death, but an autopsy was set to be performed. Bernstein was likely killed the same night he went missing, said Police Lt. Brad Valentine.
The friend in question was previously not being treated as a suspect, according to Newsweek, though it was unclear whether that had changed.
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