Wilson found in Berkeley, put on suicide watch

By Sarah Rutledge     8/21/08 7:00pm

Former Rice student Matthew Wilson was found Aug. 13 at the University of California, Berkeley campus. According to the Houston Chronicle, the prosecution dropped all charges - which included trespassing, lying to a police officer and possessing stolen property - against Wilson.Wilson, then a Hanszen College junior, had been missing since December. Police found no clue of Wilson's whereabouts until June, when members of the Berkeley Police Department located his car in a Berkeley neighborhood after it was tagged as an abandoned vehicle. After finding Wilson in a UC-Berkeley classroom Aug. 13, BPD took him into custody. Currently, Wilson is being held in a San Francisco mental hospital on suicide watch, the Houston Chronicle reported Wed.

"[Wilson] 'lived in his car off and on until it was towed' by BPD on June 10, 2008," BPD sergeant Mary Kusmiss said in an e-mail. "He spent much of his time on the UC-Berkeley campus and began sleeping near some of the buildings in recent months. The UC student community is a good source of food according to Wilson. He did not make any social connections or friends while in Berkeley. As a result of talking with Wilson, BPD would characterize him as having faced - and continues to face - personal challenges. Matthew Wilson can best speak to what those are."

Wilson's former roommate, Hanszen College senior Elliott Harwell, said he was elated to hear Wilson had been found.

---

---

"It happened during Orientation-week training," Harwell said. "I was here on campus and [the Hanszen masters] called me and said [Rice University Police Department] had contacted them and said, 'Matthew Wilson's been found.' We talked, and they told me everything they knew and I ran screaming back into the commons where O-Week advisors were working, screaming that Matt had been found."

Harwell, who had signed a lease with Wilson last year for a nearby apartment, said Wilson's disappearance around finals had worried him since it was out of character for him to leave.

"Honestly, what I had truly hoped had happened was Matt was in Mudd Lab, had hunkered down to work on finals and would show up unaware that a police search was happening, we'd have a laugh and go on," Harwell said. "When that didn't happen, I was worried he'd committed suicide."

Harwell described Wilson as a quiet, easy-going friend who often kept to himself. The two had roomed together the year before on campus.

"Since finals [had begun], he'd been a little more quiet, but everyone's a little more quiet during finals, so it wasn't a surprise," Harwell said. "He never talked to me about wanting to go off and explore the world, he never talked to me about needing to get away from things, so it was a complete and total shock."

Harwell said the speculation that likened Wilson's disappearance to that of the main character's in Jon Krakauer's novel Into the Wild, in which a college student disappears into the wilderness without a trace, was unfounded.

"He's a pasty-white computer science major, and I'm certain he loves nature and appreciates it, but he's not one of those people," Harwell said.

During those months, Harwell said he would keep in touch with Wilson's older sister, Kelly, and the two would keep each other informed on any news related to his disappearance.

Harwell said the newspaper reports of Wilson not having made friends on the UC-Berkeley campus is typical for anyone in a scary situation.

"Matt here at Rice had extremely good friends, and he was outgoing with his friends," Harwell said. "It's clear that he wasn't being himself [in Calif.] .. If I were running away, I probably would keep to myself too. The fact that he was alone and hadn't gotten help from anyone, was isolated, hadn't made friends, that's what you do when you're in a new environment and afraid."

Harwell said Wilson's disappearance indicated that something was wrong, though he does not know what was wrong.

"It's a hard question and it's one that many people are going to be asking for a long time," Harwell said. "Even the person that everyone thinks might know, Matt, may not have all the answers."

Harwell said pressure at school might have been a part of why Wilson left Houston.

"It's clear that Matt . was well-liked and participated actively in Hanszen, but maybe he felt he was missing something other people had and he tried to go find that and understand himself a bit better," Harwell said. "The way he tried to deal with it was leaving."

Cathy Wilson, Wilson's mother, could not be reached for comment.

Rice University Police Chief Bill Taylor said the case is officially closed for Rice since Wilson, the missing person, has been found.

In another symbol of closure, the Web site Matthew's sister, Kelly Wilson, started at findmattwilson.org, has since been disbanded.

---