Fraternity brothers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student who plummeted to his death Saturday morning said he had fallen from his bedroom window at the fraternity house in what appeared to be a "terrible accident."
Robert M. Wells, a 22-year-old senior from Ballston Spa, N.Y., died about 5:45 a.m. Saturday after what police said was a five-story fall.
"All indications show that this was an accident," Mike Smith-Bronstein, the president of MIT's Delta Upsilon chapter, wrote in an e-mail.
Neither MIT officials nor police, who continue to investigate the death, would confirm the students' version of the event. One police source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is not finished, said police do not suspect foul play.
Boston police are leading the investigation because the death occurred in Back Bay, along a small fraternity row of townhouses on Beacon Street.
Police said a cause of death finding was premature.
"We haven't got to the point where [detectives] have anything definitive enough to where they can say this is what happened or what didn't happen," said officer Eddy Chrispin. "Ideally, they'd like to wait for the results of the autopsy, which I anticipate will be out sometime early this week."
MIT deans and a counselor spent parts of the past two days meeting with grief-stricken fraternity members, bringing them dinner Saturday. They were also reaching out to Wells's parents, who were in town from upstate New York, university officials said.
"Obviously, this affects all of us," said Pamela Dumas Serfes, a university spokeswoman. "Everybody's deeply saddened by this loss, as you can imagine."
MIT expects to hold a memorial service on campus for Wells, who majored in brain and cognitive sciences.
Kevin Moore, a 1992 graduate and member of Delta Upsilon, was leaving a meeting between alumni and current fraternity members yesterday afternoon at the Beacon Street house. He had expected to help initiate a new freshman class, but the planned ceremony was postponed after Wells died.
"I can't believe this happened," Moore said.
Moore said Wells slept very close to a window, which he kept open because it got very hot inside the house.
Smith-Bronstein said in his e-mail that everyone else in the house was asleep when Wells fell.
"We loved Rob for his character, honesty, and loyalty to us," wrote Smith-Bronstein, who pointed to his sense of humor, sincerity, and enthusiasm for intramural ice hockey, volleyball, and football.
Other students on campus and on Beacon Street were reticent about the death, with many visibly shaken.
Wells worked as a doorman at Crossroads, a Beacon Street pub, for about three months last year and liked to go there for pizza and trivia with his friends, said Michael Ahern, a bartender.
"He was a nice young kid, obviously extremely bright, very witty," said Ahern said. "He was always a sort of upbeat character."
Wells usually came with a team of male and female students for Sunday night's trivia match, which usually packs a big crowd, Ahern said.
"I think we'll be very quiet tonight," Ahern said.
Beth Daley of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Alex Oster, John Forrester, and Michael Naughton contributed to this report. Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.
