Otto Warmbier
American student Otto Warmbier was detained in North Korea for 17 months and returned to the U.S. in a vegetative state. He died days later. North Korea claimed he contracted botulism.
- Status
- Unsolved
- Type
- Suspicious Death
- Date
- June 19, 2017
- Location
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Age
- 22
- Gender
- Male
- Decade
- 2010s
- OpenUnsolved
- Partly resolved
- Charges or trial
- Closed
No one has been charged and the case remains open.
Case background and investigation
Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, was detained in North Korea in January 2016 during a tourist visit. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel.
In June 2017, North Korea released Warmbier in a state of unresponsive wakefulness. He had been in this condition for over a year, unknown to the outside world. North Korea claimed he contracted botulism and fell into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.
Warmbier died on June 19, 2017, six days after returning to the United States. Doctors found no evidence of botulism. The exact cause of his brain injury remains unknown—possibilities include torture, poisoning, or an attempted suicide.
A U.S. federal judge ruled North Korea liable for Warmbier's torture and death in 2018, awarding his family over $500 million in damages. The full circumstances of what happened to Otto in custody may never be known.
Timeline
-
January 2, 2016Warmbier detained in North Korea.
-
June 13, 2017Released in vegetative state.
-
June 19, 2017Otto Warmbier dies.
Sources
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Entry last updated September 29, 2026.
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