Brown Student Dies in Moscow

The death of a Brown University junior in Moscow on Tuesday remains a mystery, with police insisting the student killed himself and a preliminary coroner's report charging murder.

Anthony Riccio, 21, was discovered dead Tuesday morning on the asphalt in front of his dormitory at the Russian Institute of the Humanities. One end of a rope was tied around his neck and the other end tied to a fire escape on the building's 14th floor, where his room was located.

Riccio was spending a year in Moscow under a program sponsored by the American Collegiate Consortium at Middlebury College.

Moscow police claimed Riccio killed himself because he ran out of money, the Hartford Courant reported. But the student's father, John Riccio, said he had $700 in cash and checks. Anthony Riccio also left no suicide note.

And a Russian coroner found physical evidence that the student was strangled before he fell, the Brown Daily Herald reported.

Anthony Riccio's neck had markings which could not have been caused by the fall, according to the coroner's report.

News reports speculated that Riccio may have stumbled on illegal activity among dormitory residents, many of whom were not students or university affiliates.

The Boston Globe, quoting unnamed U.S. officials, reported Sunday that Riccio was sharing living space with two Russian men involved in organized crime.

Riccio's family has hired a private coroner to perform an autopsy back in his home town of Glastonbury, Conn.

"We as a family have congregated here and are making a statement that it is a 50-50 chance that it was murder or suicide," John Riccio said yesterday.

Results from the private autopsy will not be available until at least the end of the week.

Brown University President Vartan Gregorian has called U.S. Ambassador Robert Strauss in Moscow and the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to pressure Moscow for a full-scale investigation.

John Riccio said his son was "completely normal and happy" when he last spoke to him on Sept. 12.

"I hope that this is no impediment to other students who happen to be going abroad," the father of the Brown University student said.

John Riccio said his son believed strongly in cultural interchange, and that he had specifically requested to live in a Russian instead of a foreigners' dormitory. Given the choice, he said. "Tony would do it again."

Riccio was a Russian studies concentrator who was described by friends as an outgoing, charismatic individual. He swam competitively and spoke six languages.

This story was compiled using Associated Press dispatches.