Public Safety searches for Wei Ho '09

He was last seen on campus at 4:30 a.m. Friday morning, wearing a blue jacket, blue jeans and white sneakers, the report said, adding that “there is a concern for Wei Ho’s welfare.”

Daniel Douglas ’09, who has been Ho’s roommate since freshman year, said in an e-mail that “We believe that Wei has left the campus of his own volition, and is not in the Princeton area, so we don’t believe there’s anything that can really be done in terms of helping to search for him.”

Ho’s other roommate, Anton Malyshev ’09, and his RCA, Lovell Holder ’09, both declined to comment.

University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96 said that though it is not the first time Public Safety has handled a missing persons investigation, the issuing of a campus-wide alert was out of the ordinary.

“It is not common to issue a campus alert as part of the investigation,” Cliatt said in an e-mail. “In this case, we hope the investigation can be aided by assistance from the University community.”

“We urge anyone with reliable information about Wei Ho to contact the Department of Public Safety immediately,” Cliatt added.

She declined to release more information, as the investigation is ongoing, and the University wishes to protect the privacy of members of the community.

“The alert as written provides the information necessary to encourage assistance in the investigation,” she said. “We may provide more information as it becomes available.”

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Ho emigrated with his family from Taiwan during third grade and attended Chamblee Charter High School prior to coming to Princeton. He was a recipient of the Freshman First Honor Prize and the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence. According to his facebook.com profile, Ho spent last summer interning with Microsoft.

The University admissions website features Ho’s profile with an emphasis on his passion for the sciences.

Andrew Yang ’09, a friend of Ho’s who said he “used to hang out with him a lot during freshman year,” said that he thinks, perhaps, Ho “needed some time off from school just to think.”

“I can totally understand how at Princeton one can get really absorbed in studies. Especially if you spend a lot of time by yourself doing work, it can really get to you and be very overwhelming,” Yang said, describing Ho as very “academically motivated.”

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Yang said he hoped that “once [Ho] has some time off to think ... he’ll come back.”

Friends of Ho said that they were upset about his decision to leave campus but did not know where he was.

Igor Dikiy ’09 said that he was “very concerned” about his friend.

“I spent a large part of today worrying about him,” he said.

“I’m definitely worried,” Yang said. “I’m not worried in that I don’t think he’s in danger. I think the only danger he might be in is if he inflicts it on himself, which I think is unlikely.”

“I think he needs a break; I’m not concerned for his safety,” he explained.

Yang said that he also had not had much contact with Ho immediately prior to this incident. “Hopefully, when he does come back ... he can try to keep in touch with his friends, [and] likewise I’ll do the same [for him]. We can work through this together,” Yang said.

— Senior writer Josephine Wolff contributed reporting.