TRAGIC

Family: Otto Warmbier Dies After Release From North Korea

American ex-prisoner was comatose for a year.

Otto Warmbier, the American student freed from North Korean prison last week, died Tuesday, according to his family. Warmbier, 22, was in a coma for the past year following his March 2016 arrest for allegedly stealing a poster. The North Korean government claimed he suffered food poisoning and lost consciousness after he was given a sleeping pill. Warmbier suffered “severe neurological injury,” U.S. doctors said. “When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th, he was unable to speak, unable to see, and unable to react to verbal commands,” his family said in a statement provided to WCPO. “He looked very uncomfortable—almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed—he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.”