Emporia police said the death of Rebecca Rauber, a 28-year-old second-grade teacher, was accidental and caused by hypothermia, closing a case that had drawn concern in a city battered by subzero wind chills and heavy snow. Rauber was found dead Sunday, Jan. 25, in a wooded area near W. 4th Avenue and West Street, two days after she disappeared.
Police said Rauber stopped briefly late the night of Friday, Jan. 23, at the Town Royal bar at 405 Commercial St. in downtown Emporia before walking west in frigid conditions. Loved ones said in a Facebook post that she had left her phone, keys, jacket and purse at the bar. Officials said her body was found covered in snow in the 700 block of W. 4th Avenue, about seven blocks west of the bar.
The Emporia Police Department announced this week that it has closed its investigation and said there were no indications of foul play in Rauber’s death. The finding ends a period of painful uncertainty for family, friends and students at Riverside Elementary School, where she taught second grade, after a prayer service was held Monday, Jan. 26, at an Emporia church in her honor.
The weather may be the most important part of the answer police have now given. Heavy snow fell in the area on Saturday, Jan. 24, and subzero wind chills were reported that weekend, conditions that officials say fit the conclusion that Rauber died from exposure rather than violence. The case, and the fear that shadowed it, now close with that explanation: police say this was a tragic accident, not foul play.