Missing Ex-Columbia Student Is Found
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A former Columbia University graduate student who disappeared three days ago from Washington Heights after withdrawing suddenly from school was discovered around 12:45 p.m. in upstate New York yesterday, police said.
Toby Cohen, 25, who had just finished his second year at Columbia’s College of Dental Medicine, left his girlfriend’s apartment on Greenwich Street around 9 p.m. on Sunday night. He returned to his home on West 169th Street but left sometime after, leaving behind a cell phone, photo identification, and the medication he needs to take twice a day for epilepsy.
Mr. Cohen’s mother, Ana Cohen, said her son was found swimming in a reservoir in Carmel, N.Y., with bruises on his face and legs and disoriented from missing doses of medication. Mrs. Cohen said her son still has no idea how he got to the reservoir and cannot remember recent events.
Mr. Cohen’s father, Ira Cohen, said his son was expected to begin a surgical rotation at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx on Monday, but when he discovered Toby never showed up, he became worried. The elder Mr. Cohen called Columbia and found that his son had withdrawn in the last month without telling his family.
The younger Mr. Cohen is at Putnam Hospital and expected to be fine.
The communications office at Columbia Medical Center said they could not comment.