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A University of Maine student who went missing for more than eight hours Saturday morning during a fraternity initiation process had no sense of how long he had been outside, according to the director of the team that coordinated the search.
Dr. Richard Bowie, director of operations for the Down East Emergency Medicine Institute, said when junior financial economics student Joshua Gilmore was seen emerging from a wooded area near the Steam Plant parking lot just before 2:30 p.m — eight hours after beginning the ritual — his body temperature was between 93 and 94 degrees.
Bowie said when Gilmore emerged, “halfway up his body was covered in mud” from being immersed in the Stillwater River near the Steam Plant lot and various wetlands between the Sigma Chi Heritage House and Stillwater Avenue. Temperatures in Orono reached lows of 37 degrees on April 17. with a small amount of snow.
The student’s confusion was one sign of mild to moderate hypothermia, Bowie said.
“He was not alert of the time. He thought he’d only been out there an hour and a half,” Bowie said. “He did not know the helicopter was searching for him.”
Bowie said a witness saw Gilmore cross Stillwater Avenue in Old Town at least once. He said the time Gilmore was missing seemed to be too long for the ground the student covered.
“The thing I just don’t understand is that someone who was that cold and wet would have made the decision to self-rescue,” Bowie said. The doctor said Gilmore’s hypothermia symptoms could have been expedited by a period of exhaustion.
“Maybe he slept for a while somewhere in a cold, wet condition and that could take him even further down,” Bowie said. “That makes the most sense to me, because how could he get core cold like that? If you’re walking, you’re going to stay pretty warm.”
“At some point in time, I believe – now, this is conjecture – he might have been lying down somewhere for a while and got really cold,” Bowie said. “If the ground is 50 degrees to his 98.6, he’s going to be cooling off.”
Gilmore went missing around 6 a.m. behind the Heritage House near the Stillwater River while searching for an artifact as part of a traditional initiation process into Sigma Chi.
According to Sigma Chi President Zachary Hunt, the artifact relates to the fraternity’s crest, but is “figurative, metaphorical, and symbolic.”
Fraternity pledges are sent into the woods to find the artifact, but are not expected to bring back any physical object, Hunt said. The president would not disclose what exactly the item was, citing fraternity secrecy.
“The goal isn’t to go out and find a physical object,” Hunt said. “The goal is to have a moment of solitude to go out and learn something about yourself.”
Hunt said Gilmore didn’t understand the symbolic nature of the initiation rite.
Gilmore’s cell phone and wallet were taken from him prior to the ritual and held onto by a brother of the fraternity, according to UMaine Police Chief Noel March.
“We could have avoided this entire mess if he just had his cell phone in his pocket,” March said. “This is an example of extreme irresponsibility on the part of those involved.”
Hunt confirmed the cell phone was taken, but said the initiation process was “completely voluntary” and is founded on introspection and self-reflection.
“We don’t want their thoughts on something so deep to be interrupted by a cell phone ringing,” Hunt said. He said Sigma Chi’s policy on cell phones during the initiation process is normal, but that his chapter is likely to change the policy.
Hunt said that Gilmore had used “no mind-altering substances whatsoever” the night before his 6 a.m. initiation. In the morning, Gilmore and another pledge went to the Heritage House for the initiation. Sigma Chi member Daniel Byrne accompanied the two initiates. Hunt said the process usually takes about five minutes.
When Gilmore didn’t return, Byrne and Hunt, who were called in to help find the missing student, called in some fraternity brothers to locate him. Around 7:45 a.m., they called the police.
March said Gilmore, who was wearing a suit, was not properly dressed for the weather.
Hunt said the initiation process is typically a fast one and dressing appropriately is never a concern. The ritual is a special one, he said, and pledges typically dress up to celebrate.
“The intention wasn’t to go for a hike,” Hunt said. “We want them to be dressed properly for the occasion.”
Gilmore’s disappearance sparked a multi-agency search involving the Maine Warden Service; Maine State Police; the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department; the Orono, Old Town and UMaine police departments; and the Orono, Old Town, Penobscot Nation and Milford fire departments.
Bowie said it took about three hours to re-warm Gilmore. In the Heritage House following the rescue, doctors placed hot packs around his body to raise his core temperature. Warming procedures continued in an ambulance to and at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Bowie said Gilmore was released from EMMC around 5:45 p.m.
An internal review has already begun to address the circumstances leading to Saturday’s search effort, according to March. Det. William Flagg of UMPD and a representative from the Maine Warden Service will be conducting an interview with Gilmore soon, March said.
March said he will wait for the results of the investigation before assessing whether hazing took place, but said the possibility is there.
“Nobody would force a pledge to go through a process like this,” March said. “However, the pressure to conform and complete — conform with the tradition and complete the recruitment exercises — is no doubt significant.”
Gilmore could not be reached by press time.
Bangor Daily News