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University of Maine student Dylan Lyford, 19, of Milo, Maine, was found unconscious Sunday, Feb 15 at 10:35 a.m. before being transported from a Stillwater address to Eastern Maine Medical Center by ambulance where he was pronounced dead, according to Old Town police.

“He fell down,” said Tania Riegelman, who lives on the second floor of the building Lyford died in. Riegelman was a friend of Lyford.

“It was an accident, but there was a party,” Riegelman said.

“I was told that he had been drinking,” said Robert Dana, vice president for Student Affairs. He heard from a student that “there was a lot of alcohol involved and he had fallen down the stairs.”

Lyford was a first-year student who lived in Somerset Hall. “He was studying engineering, I believe it was chemical,” Dana said.

According to Riegelman, an autopsy is being performed Feb. 16.

“Any case that involves alcohol is a case that puts students at great risk,” Dana said.

“Dylan was my brother and my best friend, and he was an incredible person. I have a hard time remembering the last time I saw him sad,” Lyford’s brother, Doug Lyford said in an e-mail.

Doug Lyford described his brother as smart and witty, saying everyone who met him liked him. “It is difficult to find the right words right now, but I just hope that everybody tries to take something positive away from this. I want everyone to take a piece of Dylan’s philosophy with them, and just be happy,” Doug Lyford said.

“Dylan was one of the greatest guys I know. If I was ever in need of help, physically or emotionally, I knew Dylan would be there. He was so full of life, and never turned down a challenge,” said a friend, Mary Duncan, a second-year early childhood education student. “Dylan was a person you could always lean on in a time of need and know that you were always going to be taken care of,” she said.

• UM student died Sunday of skull-fracture complications (February 19, 2009)
• Op-Ed: After student’s death, we must talk honestly about alcohol (February 23, 2009)
• Editorial: Friends mourned and lessons learned (February 19, 2009)
• Women sentenced in connection with Lyford death (May 1, 2009)
• Campus fights alcohol abuse (April 27, 2009)

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.