USC graduate student's decomposing body found inside dorm room

The USC campus.
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

A maintenance worker at the University of Southern California made a disturbing discovery on Wednesday: The decomposing body of a graduate student.

The body of Jacob Kelley, a first-year grad student in the Master of Science and Medical Physiology program at the Keck School of Medicine, was found inside a room at the Seaver Residence Hall Wednesday, after the maintenance worker smelled a foul odor, USC police said Thursday. Coroner officials said there were no signs of foul play, and it may have been an accidental death.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.