Andrew Sadek

Andrew Sadek was a 20-year-old student at the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton who, by all public accounts, was working toward his education and future when he disappeared in early May 2014. Family members and local reporting describe Andrew as a quiet, shy young man who was becoming more outgoing in college and who carried the everyday hopes and routines of a student building a life.

In the spring of 2014 Andrew’s disappearance set off an extensive search by family, friends, students and local authorities. He was last seen leaving his dormitory in the predawn hours, and the search continued through May and June. On June 27, 2014, his body was recovered from the Red River near Breckenridge, Minnesota. Medical examiners determined he had suffered a gunshot wound; the official autopsy did not conclusively state manner of death. Those facts are part of the public record, but they do not define who Andrew was to those who loved him.

What remains most important on a remembrance page is Andrew’s life outside the headlines. He was a son whose parents advocated for answers and accountability, and a college student taking classes and moving toward adulthood. Public interviews with his family recall a young man whose life had the ordinary, human features of late adolescence—school, friends, and family ties. Those who knew him have worked to keep his memory alive and to seek clarity about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Though the full story of what happened to Andrew has not been publicly resolved to the satisfaction of his family, his life deserves to be recalled with dignity. This page honors Andrew Sadek as a young person with a future that was interrupted, whose presence mattered to relatives, classmates, and a community that continues to remember him. He is held in the thoughts of those who loved him and in the ongoing hope that his family’s search for answers will find justice and peace.