NMSU releases ID of body found near campus by fire in tunnel

New Mexico State University Police Chief Stephen Lopez has released the identity of the body found on Jan. 27, 2014 in a drainage culvert near NMSU’s campus.

The investigation has led to a tentative identification of the person, though DNA analysis is still underway for positive identification. Both the Office of the Medical Investigator and the NMSU Police Department believe he is Richard Livasy, a homeless 55-year old man from Michigan who came to the Las Cruces area in the 1990’s,” Lopez wrote in an email to NMSU’s and Dona Ana Community College’s communities. “His family has been notified and information obtained from them supports the preliminary identification.”

New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator has not provided a cause of death, as toxicology results are still pending.

Lopez said a physical examination of the body showed no signs criminal activity but lab results on the cause of the fire in the tunnel are still pending.