By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Monday, March 5, 2007 12:00 am
Jeffrey Schmidt remembered by fraternity as 'incredible friend'
State police medical examiners used dental records to identify the body of an Oregon State University student missing and presumed dead since November.
Jeffrey Schmidt, 22, of Medford, was found Thursday in the North Umpqua River. The positive identification came Saturday night, according to a state police news release.
Near campus, the news was met with mixed reaction at Lambda Chi Alpha, where Schmidt was a member.
"It reopens the wounds that have taken time to heal and close," said fraternity president Kyle Shultz. But the news provided closure for his family and for the OSU house, he added.
"We can finally put this to rest. … We always held out hope, because Jeff was like Superman to us," Shultz said.
Schmidt, a geography major, was in the Marine ROTC, played lacrosse for the university club team and was an officer in his fraternity.
He and his girlfriend Quinn Do Truong, 20, a member of Delta Gamma sorority, were last seen Nov. 19, when they started driving back along Highway 138 from a Greek weekend event they had attended at Diamond Lake. They were reported missing Nov. 20.
Truong's body was recovered Nov. 21 from Schmidt's Jeep Wrangler, which authorities said apparently plunged over a steep embankment and crashed into the rain-swollen North Umpqua River near milepost 48.
Schmidt's body was found a mile away, near milepost 47.
His family picked up his belongings from the fraternity earlier this year. Lambda Chi Alpha members and the Schmidts have helped support each other, Shultz said.
"Jeff was an absolutely incredible guy. A lot of people hear what happened and assume he was irresponsible. But Jeff was one of the best guys I've ever met. I can say that with my whole heart," Shultz said.
"He was an incredible friend. Just someone you hate having to lose," he added.
Shultz said that he'd heard nothing yet regarding a funeral or memorial observance.
Schmidt's family in Medford could not be contacted Sunday afternoon.
According to the Associated Press, his parents, Priscilla and Jonathan Schmidt, and his sister, Joanna Schmidt, established a private memorial fund at Washington Mutual Bank, with proceeds to benefit the sheriff's search and rescue teams in Douglas and Jackson counties. Forest workers doing a float survey had discovered Schmidt's body Thursday.
It would be routine to do a toxicology report in any fatal crash, but tests won't be able to be done in this instance, said Lt. Douglas Ladd, station commander for Oregon State Police in Roseburg.