Body of missing US student found in Siberia

MOSCOW -- Russian investigators said the body of an American student has been found on the outskirts of a Siberian village, a week after he vanished from a guesthouse in the middle of the night.

A statement from the Investigative Committee said Colin Madsen's body was found Monday about a mile outside Arshan, a resort village poplar for its mineral springs and proximity to mountains.

The statement said there were no visible injuries to the 25-year-old Madsen, and his documents and money had been left untouched. It did not give details of the terrain where he was found, other than to say Madsen had "gone into the woods."

Madsen, of Jefferson City, Missouri, was a student at a university in Irkutsk. He came to Arshan on March 26 with friends who intended to hike to a mountain summit. But he left the guesthouse between 2 and 5 a.m., without a coat, despite freezing temperatures.

The Investigative Committee said an autopsy would be conducted that would include tests for traces of alcohol or drugs. The statement said investigators determined the group had used unspecified drugs on the day before Madsen's disappearance but didn't elaborate.

"Colin, to my knowledge, did not do drugs," his aunt Annie Madsen told The Associated Press by telephone. "I'm taken aback by this."

Arshan is about 2,500 miles east of Moscow.