They’re searching a local lake for him. There’s no evidence he was drunk; his last reported location was the library.
Watching this local news report about him when he was still home in Indiana deepens the sadness.
*********************
Update: His body has been found in the lake.
April 28th, 2025 at 10:23AM
Have you read the two pieces published in the New Yorker by Yiyun Li, about the death by suicide of both of her sons (in Princeton)?
October 23 2023
What Gardening Offered after a Son’s Death
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/30/onward-and-upward-in-the-department-of-not-moping
March 23 2025
The Deaths — and Lives — of Two Sons
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/31/the-deaths-and-lives-of-two-sons
April 28th, 2025 at 11:40AM
Olivia: I’ve seen it but not read it. Didn’t know it was about suicide, and didn’t know it was about Princeton. Many thanks! UD
April 28th, 2025 at 1:01PM
“Li had a breakdown in 2012 and attempted suicide twice.” This is from the author’s Wiki page.
I read her second essay in its entirety, and read the first less attentively; but nowhere in the second (unless I missed it) does she mention her own depressive struggles. That is, one (partial) explanation for the horrible fact of both sons killing themselves would involve their inheritance of a family depressive disposition.
April 29th, 2025 at 7:44AM
Yes, there are indications there is a genetic component. She also published a short story on similar themes –
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/17/techniques-and-idiosyncrasies-fiction-yiyun-li
In the 2025 essay:
When Vincent was around the same age, he asked, pointedly, “You understand suffering, and you write about suffering so well. Why did you give birth to us?” A question for which I never had a good answer.
April 29th, 2025 at 8:51AM
I found that statement – why did you give birth to us? – chilling, esp coming from a kid. And I find it implausible that she “never had a good answer.” I gave birth to you to alleviate suffering and experience the joy of loving you? Is that a bad answer?