PRINCETON — The last ping from a missing Princeton University student's phone shows she went several miles off campus before it appeared to have been shut off.

Misrach Ewunetie, 20, has not been seen since Friday around 3 a.m. outside Scully Hall, her residence hall, according to Princeton University Public Safety. Investigators put out a campus alert Monday night.

A large search was conducted Wednesday using a helicopter, drones and watercraft on Carnegie Lake adjacent to campus, according to the university. Photojournalist Brian McCarthy said the Trenton Fire Department Dive Team and the Princeton University Rowing Team was also part of the search.

Brother Universe Ewunetie, 30, told The U.S. Sun that she had been at Princeton's Terrace Club, an eating club, on Washington Road Thursday night. She had an appointment Saturday about 45 miles from Princeton regarding her application for American citizenship but was a no-show. Her brother said their family came to the United States from Ethiopia in 2008.

The last phone ping

Members of the Princeton Rowing Team join the search
Members of the Princeton Rowing Team join the search (Brian McCarthy)
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Search of Carnegie Lake near Princeton University 10/19/22
Search of Carnegie Lake near Princeton University 10/19/22
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The last ping from Misrach Ewunetie's phone was Sunday morning around 3:30 a.m. from a housing complex in the Penns Neck section of West Windsor, Universe Ewunetie told the Sun. Universe Ewunetie said it looked like his sister's phone was then shut off.

Police have searched the area outdoors twice, once with K9s, but did not find anything.

Universe Ewunetie said his sister had a hard time not being on campus for her first year at Princeton and was hoping to make friends at the Terrace Club. She did not have any personal problems that he was aware of, he told The Sun.

The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland told Cleveland’s CBS 19 Misrach Ewunetie was a 2020 graduate of Cleveland’s Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School and class valedictorian. She earned a full scholarship to Princeton and has recently changed majors to sociology, her brother told The Sun.

Princeton Public Safety asked anyone with information on Misrach Ewunetie's whereabouts to contact them at 609-258-1000.

The Terrace Eating Club at Princeton University
The Terrace Eating Club at Princeton University (Brian McCarthy)
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Dan Alexander is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com

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