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College Park Student From Harford County Found Dead In Dorm

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (WJZ)— Shock and sadness on the campus of the University of Maryland College Park after a Harford County girl was found dead in her dorm room.

Derek Valcourt has more on the young woman and how she died.

Detectives are calling it an apparent accident---but they aren't saying what kind of accident.

Twenty-year-old Harford County native Sarah Hancock studied sociology at the University of Maryland where she was also a member of the Alpha Pi Omega co-ed service fraternity.

Now fellow students are saddened to learn about her sudden death.

"It's devastating to hear of the loss of a person who lived so near," said Val Ivanova.

"It's usually something that's happening to other people but now that it's happening around me, I don't know what to feel," said Tae Song.

Police were called to her dorm room inside Kent Hall around 1:15 p.m. Monday. She was dead when they arrived. Detectives only say it appears to be an accident. There were no signs of foul play or suicide.

Kent Hall is a co-ed dorm, a mix of mostly upperclassmen. Many of the students say they didn't know about the death until they saw it on the news.

"I was really devastated," said sophomore Mickey Aticha.

Fellow dorm-mates like Mickey Aticha say there were a lot of tears as news of Hancock's death spread to her campus friends.

"They said she wasn't sick at all, that she was fine. Then, after all of a sudden this happened, they [weren't] expecting it. Her roommate is really devastated right now. She's her best friend, I guess," Aticha said.

Sarah Hancock was a 2010 graduate of C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air.

Police are waiting for autopsy results before they release any more information in this case.

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