The 19-year-old Southern Illinois University student from Morton Grove whose body was found in February in a wooded area of downstate Carbondale died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, according to the results of a second autopsy commissioned by the teenager's family.



The findings by independent forensic pathologist Ben Margolis raise more questions in the mysterious death of Pravin Varughese, who the Jackson County coroner's office maintains died of hypothermia with no evidence of foul play.



"I knew there was something wrong," Varughese's mother, Lovely Varughese, told the Tribune Saturday. "But I didn't expect it to be this big."



Margolis, founder of Autopsy Center of Chicago, said the autopsy he performed found "significant injuries" to Varughese's face. The sophomore criminal justice major suffered four different blows to the face and head, all of which could not have been caused by a single impact, such as falling on a rock or hitting a tree.



Varughese's body also showed an injury to his forearm and his left thigh, Margolis said, as well as bruises below his knees and scratch marks that could have been caused by the difficult terrain.



But Margolis stopped short of issuing a determination of how Varughese sustained the head injuries, saying he still needed to see initial police and coroner records.



"The cause of death is blunt force injury, but the cause of those injuries is pending further investigation," he said.



Varughese's mother, meanwhile, said Margolis' report gives credence to her questions of how authorities have handled her son's death investigation.



"It gives me a feeling that I'm not crazy," she said. "The instinct as a mother, and the knowledge as a nurse, I think it paid off."



Carbondale police originally said they discovered Varughese's body about 9:45 a.m. Feb. 18 in a heavily wooded area on the eastern side of town. He had been reported missing five days earlier, after authorities said he was last seen around 11 p.m. Feb. 12 leaving a party about 3 miles from where his body was discovered.



Wearing jeans and a shirt on a night when temperatures dipped into the single digits, the former track and cross-country runner at Niles West High School fled into the wooded area after getting into a dispute with a "recent acquaintance" who gave him a ride from the party, Carbondale police said.



Authorities have not elaborated much on the nature of that dispute, other than to say that Varughese exited the vehicle on his own accord and that his body showed no obvious signs of trauma.



But a state police report dated a week after Varughese was found paints a slightly different picture of Varughese's last known sighting.



The report, dated a week after he was found, shows a roughly eight-minute interaction between a trooper on patrol the night of the disappearance and the driver who later came forward to Carbondale police with the information that led to Varughese's discovery.





Hypothermia was ruled as the preliminary cause of death by the Jackson County coroner's office, and Carbondale Police Chief Jody O'Guinn told reporters at a Feb. 18 news conference that Varughese likely had trouble finding his way out of the woods because of the "difficult terrain and low temperatures."



O'Guinn did not return multiple requests for comment and Jackson County State's Attorney Michael Carr – whose office is reviewing the case – has also declined requests for comment on Saturday.



County coroner Thomas Kupferer said Saturday that the forensic pathologist who performed the initial autopsy did not indicate any blunt force injuries.



"I've seen blunt force trauma, and there was nothing there that looked like anything that was inflicted on this young man that led to what put him out there," Kupferer said.



Results of her son's second autopsy are now in the hands of a family attorney, Lovely Varughese said. She said she will continue to press authorities for answers.



"I will fight to my last breath," she said. "Whatever we've been through shouldn't happen to another family. Whatever they did in Carbondale, or didn't do, that has to change."



jbullington@tribune.com