Student from New Hyde Park Missing at Northwestern University

Police are searching for a Northwestern University student who disappeard this past weekend.

Harsha Maddula, who is from New Hyde Park, a member of the class of 2011 from New Hyde Park Memorial and a sophomore at Northwestern, was last seen September 22 at approximately 12:30 a.m. leaving a party off-campus. Maddula is a resident of the Public Affairs Residential College on Northwestern's Evanston campus. He was declared missing on September 23.

University police believe there is no indication of any danger or threat to other members of the Northwestern community. They suspect no evidence of foul play regarding Maddula’s disappearance.

The university requested the assistance of the FBI Monday morning as well as the Evanston Police Department, Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center and the Cook County Department of Emergency Management.

Northwestern University police interviewed several students who were with Maddula and in his residence hall and searched the area near campus where he was last seen as well as reviewed closed circuit footage and electronic key data for his residence hall, but none indicated that he returned to his residence hall that night.

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According to the university paper “The Daily Northwestern,” Commander Darren Davis of the university police said Monday that Maddula was reported “contacted but not seen” around 6:45 p.m. Saturday, but the situation was upgraded to a missing person report by Sunday afternoon.

The university paper also reports that:

friends from Maddula’s dorm said they last saw him while leaving the off-campus party.

“They realized that he wasn't with them while they were walking to another party,” said a friend of Maddula who was with him at the party. Maddula's friends did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Maddula left the party with three or four people, according to multiple sources who saw his group leaving the house, which is located west of campus.

Several sources who said they spoke with Maddula at the party recalled him as coherent — not stumbling or visibly intoxicated — as he left.

Maddula is described as an 18-year old male of Indian descent, 5 feet 8 inches tall, approximately 150 pounds, with black hair, dark brown eyes and wearing black-framed glasses. He was last seen wearing a grey long sleeve sweater with white and black stitching and wearing dark grey pants and brown shoes.

He was also recently diagnosed with diabetes, which forced him to return to Long Island earlier this year according to a CBS report.

According to the university, Maddula’s parents arrived at the campus on Monday. His two brothers still attend New Hyde Park Memorial.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Harsha Maddula, please contact Northwestern University Police at 847-491-3254.