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Cornell University student found dead in Ithaca gorge

A photo shared alongside information about the incidents on the Ithaca Fire Department's Facebook page.
Ithaca Fire Department
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A photo shared alongside information about the incidents on the Ithaca Fire Department's Facebook page.

A Cornell University student died in an Ithaca gorge over the weekend.

Police and firefighters responded to multiple incidents at gorges in the area over a 12-hour period.

Cornell University identified the victim as undergraduate student Winter Knutson on Monday. In a statement, police said Knutson’s death was under investigation, and "there was no indication of foul play apparent" during the initial recovery process.

Knutson was a sophomore math and physics major at Cornell and had attended Ithaca High School, according to a statement from the university. The Cornell Sun reported that Knutson is survived by their sibling, Taran Knutson, and parents, Sofia Akber and Cornell mathematics professor, Allen Knutson.

In a separate incident, the Ithaca Fire Department rescued another Cornell student who had fallen into the gorge Sunday morning. After being rescued by the fire department, the victim was air-lifted to a regional trauma center.

According to a post on the fire department’s social media, police are also investigating that student’s fall into the gorge.

Later that morning, the fire department responded to a call from someone who believed they saw a person jump into a gorge in Ithaca’s South Hill area. The fire department said first responders thoroughly searched the area and did not find anyone.