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The Daily Tar Heel

Police no longer actively investigating David Shannon's death

David Shannon

David Shannon

Almost two years after David Shannon fell to his death at a concrete factory, Carrboro police have stopped actively investigating the then-UNC freshman's death.

Months of silence from the community has given police no new leads to investigate. The Carrboro Police Department investigation will go inactive without pressing any charges in the case unless police receive further information that would give them cause to reopen it, police spokesman Capt. Chris Atack said Tuesday.

"It's not that it's a done deal with us because it isn't," said Carrboro Police Sgt. Mike Metz, an investigator in Shannon's case. "It just isn't an active case because we don't have any information to go on."

Shannon was a pledge in the Chi Phi fraternity when he was found dead on Oct. 27, 2012 after falling 40 feet from machinery at Carrboro's Ready Mixed Concrete Plant. An autopsy report released last year said Shannon had a blood alcohol concentration of .22 at the time of his death.

Police spent months appealing to members of Shannon's fraternity and the University community for more information about the night Shannon died, but they were met with a wall of silence.

"You try not to get personally involved in the case," Atack said. "But obviously you'd like to get to the bottom of every mystery."

Police never received enough information to mount a case and press charges against anyone for Shannon's death.

The Chi Phi fraternity is also under investigation by the University for hazing allegations made in an incident unrelated to Shannon's death. But the Chi Phi case was sent to the new Standards Review Board, which has the ability to examine all past allegations in its own investigation.

Police stopped actively investigating earlier this year, Atack said.

"Cases in general are driven by information and leads, so when you have a lack of information and a lack of leads you're sort of stuck," Atack said.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com

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