Police are searching for answers as to why a Pace University honors student was found dead in his Chelsea apartment.

Kevin Pravia, 19, was discovered lying face up in his bed with some kind of plastic in his mouth at about 6:15 p.m. on Sunday, police said, and he appeared to have been strangled by a cord.

Authorities did not disclose further details of the scene at Pravia’s apartment, situated at 15th Street and Seventh Avenue, but a police report released yesterday indicated that they were investigating the death as a homicide.

Pravia was last seen at the corner of Gold and John streets in lower Manhattan at about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to the report.

Pravia, a rising sophomore at Pace, was a native of Pittsfield, Mass. Friends from his hometown said he never seemed suicidal.

“He wouldn’t do that,” a high school friend, Kirk Emerson, said. “Everybody’s shocked. He was always a nice person and everybody liked him.”

An autopsy was conducted yesterday, but the results were inconclusive, and further investigative work will be needed before a cause of death can be determined, according to a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office, Ellen Borakove. She expected results to come out in the latter part of the week.

Pravia was a member of the Challenge to Achieve at Pace honors program, according to a university representative, Cara Halstead. “The program is a way to get into Pace for students who maybe didn’t have the best grades in high school, but are still highly motivated,” she said.

Classes start at Pace tomorrow, making the timing of the death especially tragic, according to Ms. Halstead. “Freshmen are coming in for the beginning of the semester, and it’s very unfortunate to have to welcome them under these circumstances,” she said, adding that Pace students receive a “security talk” about safety at the beginning of each year.

The university will be holding a memorial service and counseling sessions, Ms. Halstead said, adding that specific arrangements had not yet been made.