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Coroner: Gannon University student drunk in hypothermia death

ERIE, Pa. — The coroner says a 21-year-old college student who died of hypothermia last month was also legally drunk.

Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook has ruled the death of Abbrielle Brynda an accident due to hypothermia "in a setting of acute alcohol intoxication."

The 21-year-old Gannon University junior was found lying in an alley the afternoon of Feb. 1, hours after she reportedly attended a party at a nearby apartment in Erie the night before. She was pronounced dead at UPMC Hamot hospital after she was found.

Cook isn't releasing Brynda's blood-alcohol level, but says it was above 0.08 percent, the limit at which drivers are considered legally intoxicated in Pennsylvania.