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Soumya Reddy Tummala, pursuing Masters in Electrical Engineering was found dead on Sunday. The body of the victim was found around 30 miles away from campus at St. Louis, Missouri, in a car belonging to a person known to the victim. The email response from Ron Schaefer, Director of International Programs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois, USA :

One of our graduate students, Soumya Tummala, was found dead in a car in St.
Louis, Missouri. According to Officer Rick Eckhard of the St. Louis County
Police Department, the body was reported to Police at 8:30 am Saturday,
September 13.  The body was found at 12636 Spanish Pond Road at Sunfish and
North Lakes Park in North St. Louis County. Eckhard said detectives believe Tummala was shot dead between Friday night and
Saturday morning. The case has been ruled a homicide. Eckhard also said the
case was moving along at a good pace and detectives have been working non-stop
on the case since Saturday. No arrests have yet been made in connection with
the homicide.

The University has been cooperating with the Police conducting the
investigation; on Monday morning the FBI joined the case. The University has
cooperated with the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office to repatriate
the body at the soonest possible moment. The body is being prepared for transit
by Armbruster-Donnelly Funeral Home in St. Louis, Missouri.

Early Sunday morning the University made contact with Soumya’s family in India
and broke the news to her mother. The father we understand is deceased.

Soumya was a graduate student in very good standing in Electrical Engineering.
She was scheduled to graduate in summer 2009.

The University has met with the community of Indian students on campus and
informed them of the sparse information presently available about this tragic
circumstance. The University is doing everything it possibly can to assist its
Indian students and anyone else concerned about this case.