A 41-year-old master’s degree student was found dead by U-M Police and housing officials shortly before noon Sept. 22 in his student housing apartment at 1657 University Terrace.
Police Lt. James Smiley said Kenneth Karl Kovacs had been dead for approximately 36 hours. Preliminary investigation indicates he died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the right temple. The weapon was a .38 caliber revolver.
Kovacs apparently was unmarried and lived alone. He was a master’s degree candidate in physics and had been attending the U-M in various undergraduate and graduate programs since 1968, Smiley said.
Kovacs’ mother, Dorothy, of Redford Township, became concerned when her son missed some appointments and contacted housing officials who, with University police, conducted a “welfare check,” Smiley says, and found the body.
No notes were found, Smiley added, and the case is still pending. An autopsy was performed at University Hospitals Sept. 23, and results will be available in approximately 10 days, Smiley says.
