At 7:20 p.m. on Friday, January 12th, 2007, 19-year-old college freshman Wade Steffey walked into Ford Dining Hall, one of five dining halls on Purdue University’s campus. Purdue, a prestigious university in Indiana, is well known for its excellence in both athletics and academics. Wade was an aviation technology student attending Purdue on a full academic scholarship.
That evening, Wade grabbed some food and sat down at a table with his friends. It was the first Friday of the 2007 spring semester, and the dining hall buzzed with excitement as students chatted about their weekend plans.
Wade and his friends stayed at the table for about an hour before he realized it was time to leave. Around 8:20 p.m., he said goodbye, carried his tray to the trash, and exited through the same doors he had entered.
Outside, Wade turned right and walked a short distance to Owen Hall, a dormitory next to the dining hall. Although Wade didn’t live in Owen Hall (his dorm was actually Cary Quadrangle West, on the opposite side of Ford Dining Hall), he had friends in Owen Hall and was headed to their room.
Inside, he found a small group drinking and chatting. Wade joined them, had a couple of drinks, and hung out for about an hour.
Around 9:30 p.m., Wade and the group left Owen Hall and walked half a mile west of campus to attend a large fraternity party. He stayed there for several hours until midnight, when he pulled one of his friends aside and said he had just remembered that he’d left his jacket in Owen Hall.
Purdue dorms are locked at night, and only residents with key access can enter. Wade, not having a key, tried to call people inside Owen Hall to let him in. He made six phone calls. Four were misdials—he reached people who didn’t understand what he was asking and hung up. The other two calls went to people who did live in Owen Hall, but neither answered.
Around 12:30 a.m., Wade arrived at Owen Hall and, after putting his phone away, began knocking on the locked door. Eventually, a resident came to the door. They didn’t know Wade and, thinking he appeared too intoxicated, refused to let him in. After a few more knocks, Wade gave up and walked away.
The Search for Wade Steffey
Fast forward to Tuesday, January 16th. Wade’s roommate, who had been away all weekend, returned and noticed Wade wasn’t in their dorm. He called and texted him but got no response. Concerned, he asked others on their floor if they had seen Wade. No one had seen him since Friday night.
Growing increasingly alarmed, the roommate contacted Wade’s family, but they hadn’t heard from him either. That day, the police were contacted to report Wade as missing. Investigators worked with his phone provider and determined that Wade’s phone was still somewhere on Purdue’s campus—though they couldn’t pinpoint the exact location.
That evening, a massive campus-wide search was launched. Hundreds of police officers and volunteers joined in. Even Purdue’s equestrian club brought out horses to help search the nearby woods. But despite the enormous effort, only one item of Wade’s was found: a single shoe.
The shoe was discovered on January 20th—four days into the search—just outside a locked exterior door that led into a maintenance room inside Owen Hall. Police searched the maintenance room but found no sign of Wade.
Eventually, the official search was called off in February, nearly a month after Wade had gone missing.
The Discovery
On March 19th—over two months after Wade’s disappearance—a maintenance worker was downstairs in Owen Hall’s laundry room when they heard a strange popping sound. At first, the worker assumed it was coming from one of the washers or dryers—maybe a coin or a metal object being tossed around.
But as the worker listened, it became clear the popping wasn’t coming from inside the laundry room. It was coming from behind a closed door directly across the hallway. Curious, the worker grabbed their keys, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.
Moments later, the worker made a horrifying discovery.
What Really Happened to Wade Steffey
Based on the investigation that followed, authorities were able to piece together what had happened to Wade Steffey.
After being denied entry to Owen Hall around 12:30 a.m. on January 13th, Wade walked around to the left side of the building looking for another way in. There, he found a second door—an exterior maintenance entrance.
Although this door didn’t have a “Keep Out” sign, it was clearly not intended for student use. A railing surrounded a pit that led down to the door, which was located at basement level. The only way to access it was to climb over the railing and jump into the pit.
Despite being designed to stay locked at all times, the door was unlocked.
In his intoxicated state, Wade likely assumed that entering through this door would get him into the dorm, where he could retrieve his jacket. He climbed over the railing, dropped into the pit, opened the door, and stepped into darkness.
The room he entered was pitch black. He could hear machines humming and whirring but couldn’t find a light switch. Concerned the door might lock behind him, he took off one shoe and used it to prop the door open.
As he slowly made his way through the dark room, he bumped into a large metal structure—a machine of some kind. Trying to move past it, he squeezed sideways into a narrow gap between the machine and the wall.
Then something tragic happened.
Wade lost his balance. Though he didn’t fall, being wedged into the tight space caused him to reach out for support. His left ring finger slipped into a narrow, two-inch-deep hole in the machine.
The room Wade had entered was an electrical vault, containing six large transformers that reduced high-voltage electricity for use throughout Owen Hall.
The hole his finger slipped into housed an exposed electrical conductor. The moment his fingertip made contact, between 2,000 and 4,000 volts surged through his body—enough to kill him instantly. For comparison, 2,000 volts is used in electric chair executions.
Because Wade’s body was wedged upright between the machine and the wall, he didn’t collapse. His finger remained lodged in the hole, and for the next two months, electricity continued to course through his body every second.
Eventually, in March, bodily fluids caused the current to arc to the ground instead. The resulting popping sound led to his discovery.
Aftermath and Responsibility
When authorities investigated further, they realized that the exterior door Wade entered should have been locked at all times. It wasn’t. That critical oversight allowed Wade to enter a dangerous, restricted area.
Because of this, Purdue University was found negligent and agreed to pay Wade Steffey’s family $500,000 in a settlement. Additionally, the university established a scholarship in Wade’s name to honor his memory.
Conclusion
Wade Steffey’s tragic death shocked the Purdue community and led to critical questions about campus safety and maintenance protocols. Though no one could have predicted the bizarre chain of events that led to his death, the failure to secure that maintenance door ultimately cost a young man his life.
His story serves as a somber reminder of the importance of safety, accountability—and how a single oversight can lead to irreversible consequences.