Mar 25, 2009 10:42 pm US/Central
Minn. University Student Found Dead In Mexico
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―
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The U.S. Consular Agency in Puerto Vallarta confirms that 20-year-old Josh Gunderson of Stillwater, Minn. was found dead in a hotel room just after midnight on Tuesday.
CBS
A Minnesota family says its number one priority is getting their loved one's body back from Mexico.
Josh Gunderson, 20, died Tuesday morning during a spring break trip to Puerto Vallarta. He apparently hit his head in a hotel bathroom.
Gunderson was a star hockey player at Stillwater Area High School where he graduated in 2007. He made all-conference twice and lettered three times.
While the awards were important, the person he grew up to be meant much more.
"This kid was a coach's dream," Coach Phil Housley remembered. "He had a heart of gold."
Housley said Gunderson worked hard. He was eager and kept a positive attitude on and off the ice.
"His attitude and personality were contagious. People wanted to be around him," Housley said.
That's what he'll remember most about the young man found dead on Spring Break.
Police in Puerto Vallarta told a Mexican newspaper that Gunderson was found dead on the bathroom floor of a room in the Sheraton Hotel in Puerto Vallarta. He had blood on his face. It looks like an accident to police, who are still trying to figure out how exactly Gunderson died.
The headline of the newspaper, Siempre Libres, captured the feeling in Mexico and what Gunderson's family and friends are feeling in Minnesota: "Strange Death of a Foreigner."
Gunderson's family is trying to find out more about how Gunderson died from the investigators in Mexico.
"It's just a terrible loss that you feel," said Housley. He got the news Wednesday morning.
"It just saddens me because here is an individual who had a bright future ahead of him taken away," said Housley. He coached Gunderson, who played left-wing, for three years.
Gunderson's younger teammates looked up to him, and they and Housley will never forget him.
"Whatever goal he chose, whatever he was going to do, he was going to be successful, because of the drive and perseverance that he had," remembered Housley.
Gunderson was a freshman at University of St. Thomas. Gunderson's uncle said he was a beautiful, loving person who had endless potential and a smile that lit up a room.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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