Cal Lutheran Student Died From Overdose of Alcohol

A 20-year-old Cal Lutheran University student who was found dead in his dorm room this weekend died from an accidental overdose of alcohol, authorities said Sunday.

An autopsy found no anatomical reason for his death but revealed that Kyle Hagmann drank a large quantity of alcohol before dying, Senior Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens said.

“It was not suicide. It was a young college kid having too much alcohol,” Stevens said.

Toxicology tests are being done to determine what type of medication, if any, Hagmann may have mixed with the alcohol, Stevens said.

He refused to say what substance was being tested for or how much alcohol Hagmann had consumed.

Test results will be available in about three weeks.

Hagmann, who was from Big Bear City in the San Bernardino Mountains, was found on a couch in his room at Conejo Dorm by a friend about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Hagmann and his friend, whom deputies did not identify, had gone drinking off-campus Friday, and the friend slept over at Hagmann’s, police and school officials said.

A fake identification card listing Hagmann as being over 21, the legal drinking age, was found in his dorm, Stevens said.

The death stunned several students at the Thousand Oaks campus, about 25 of whom showed up at the campus’ Samuelson Chapel Saturday afternoon to meet with grief counselors and a pastor.

Hagmann, a junior who was majoring in sports medicine, had been a trainer for the university’s men’s basketball team, and was scheduled to help train the football team this fall.

“We are all deeply saddened Kyle Hagmann passed away,” said university spokeswoman Lynda Paige Fulford. “It’s a tragedy anywhere it happens.”

As a youth, Hagmann attended Big Bear High School, where he played baseball and basketball before graduating and enrolling at Cal Lutheran in 1996.

On an information card Hagmann filled out after arriving at Cal Lutheran, he listed athletic training as his career choice.

“He knew what he wanted to do when he got here,” Fulford said.

At the time of his death, his classes included physics and Christian ethics, she added.

Hagmann’s death may be the first alcohol-related overdose on a Ventura County college campus.

Fulford said the case was a first at the private university, which does not allow alcohol on campus, and Stevens said he could not remember any similar cases.

Hagmann’s parents arrived in Thousand Oaks on Saturday evening and plan to return to Big Bear City for a memorial service at a Catholic church there, Fulford said.

Hagmann also will be remembered at a memorial service at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the campus chapel.

Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary in Thousand Oaks is handling the arrangements.