

NEW BRUNSWICK – Caitlyn Kovacs, the 19-year-old Rutgers University sophomore whose death in September touched off a county investigation, died of alcohol poisoning, authorities said on Monday.

Kovacs died from “acute ethanol toxicity” and the manner of death was accidental, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey, who cited a county medical examiner’s report.

“The cause of death was determined following completion of toxicology tests,” Carey said in a press release.

Friends took Kovacs, a Monmouth Junction resident, to a hospital about 3 a.m. Sept. 21 after she appeared to be in distress during a party at the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity house on College Avenue.

She was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Police began investigating after hospital officials alerted them of her death.

Lorraine Kovacs said her daughter's friends described the sophomore as a social drinker, but not a heavy drinker.

The prosecutor called the investigation “active and continuing” and urged anyone with information to come forward.

Anyone with information is asked to call Lt. Paul Fischer of the Rutgers University Police Department at (848) 932-8025, Detective Ken Abode of the New Brunswick Police Department at (732) 745-5217, or Detective Jeffrey Temple of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3373.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.