The San Luis Obispo Police Department says they have found the body of missing Cal Poly landscape architecture junior Charles Tamae. SLOPD has issued a press release about Tamae’s death.
“The body of Charles Tamae was later discovered on the North East side of the mountain,” the release said. “ It appears at this time that Charles Tamae took his own life. There is no evidence of foul play and the investigation is continuing.”
His body was found on Cerro San Luis Mountain, also referred to as Madonna Mountain, by four students.
“There is no indication of foul play,” said University Police Department Commander Lori Hashim. According to Hashim, four students found Tamae on Cerro San Luis Mountain just before search and rescue teams found his body. These four students had gone to search on their own as other students gathered at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to organize with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department’s Search and Rescue team to begin searching Cerro San Luis (Madonna Mountain).
Tamae had been missing since Monday afternoon where he was last seen on campus by friends. Tamae’s bike was found near the base of the mountain Friday morning and lead to the search being organized.
A command center for the search was set up at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The county search and rescue team was contacted at 9:30 a.m. and were in the field by 10:30 a.m. John Bullaro, planning officer of the San Luis Obispo County search and rescue team, said he was found around 1 p.m. There were k-9 and ATV units as well as five ground teams. There was a request for mutual aid from Santa Barbara, but the request was cancelled when his body was found.
Landscape architecture junior Amanda Bender knew Tamae from class.
“He was the greatest guy,” Bender said. “He was one of those guys everybody likes.”
The day he went missing, Bender said Tamae seemed stressed about a class project, but no more than anyone else in the class.
“We are deeply saddened. The university community has suffered a great loss,” Vice President of student affairs Cornell Morton said. “We have counselors on call 24/7. We don’t shut the doors of the counseling center.”
In an email to the Cal Poly student body, President Warren Baker said that the Office of Student Life and Leadership is planning a memorial service for Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Chumash Auditorium.
Baker also urged students to use counseling resources available through the Cal Poly Health Center as necessary.
Mary Peracca of Counseling Services said there are no special counseling sessions scheduled at this time, but students are invited to come in during a crisis hour from 3 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“Typically with grief like this the students generally aren’t interested at this time to meet with a therapist, although they’re certainly welcome to,” Peracca said.
Peracca said that with a sudden loss like this, shock and denial is most people’s first response, but whatever people are feeling is normal. My experience so far is that the students are supporting each other and talking amongst themselves, she added.
Peracca said that at the end of every quarter students are under more stress and depending on their circumstances, their resources may be taxed. Some students drink more or smoke more or hurt themselves as a way of coping, she said. Suicide, though not frequent on the Cal Poly campus, is not unheard of.
Megan Hassler, Kate McIntyre, Emilie Egger and Tim Miller contributed to this report.