The Cuestonian has received the coroner’s and investigative report for the student death on Cuesta College’s SLO campus that occurred on Jan. 21, 2025 from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s office per a California Public Records Act request.

The cause of death was ruled as idiopathic cardiomegaly, which is the enlargement of the heart that makes it more difficult to circulate blood. Cardiomegaly can be temporary or permanent, depending on the cause, and is often a reaction to something that forces it to use more effort to circulate blood, leading to an unusually thick and dilated heart. 

The report also confirms the identity of the deceased as a 28-year-old male Cuesta student who was on campus to attend his first day of class for the semester that was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. It is unknown if the student made it to his class or died before 9 a.m.

The Cuestonian has elected not to publish the name of the deceased to avoid additional trauma to the family, and because the cause of death poses no ongoing safety concern to the campus community.

At approximately 1:53 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2025, Cuesta College Police responded to a call from a student who said there was a male passed out inside a truck in Parking Lot 2. When Cuesta Police responded, they found an unconscious male slumped over the driver’s seat. When they opened the unlocked driver’s door, the male had no pulse and was not breathing.

When firefighters and paramedics arrived, due to the presence of lividity and rigor mortis, no attempts were made to resuscitate. 

When searching the car, deputies found a small “whip-it” cylinder in the center console, a nitrous oxide cylinder tank in the back seat, and two empty nitrous oxide cylinder tank cardboard boxes. A “whip-it” refers to the recreational inhalation of nitrous oxide. 

When deputies spoke with the decedent’s family and live-in girlfriend, they discovered he had been abusing “whip-its” for a long time, and often complained of pain from a back injury.

Despite the history and presence of “whip-its” in the truck, the SLO County Sheriff did not find a correlation in the toxicology report to the cause of death.

This is a developing story. Follow the Cuestonian for additional information as it becomes available.

John C. King contributed to the reporting for this story.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The previously published edition of this story identified the Freedom of Information Act request as how The Cuestonian obtained this report. However, it was not a federal document and was obtained using the California Public Records Act.