The morning talk show Fox & Friends recently featured the Tsialas family and our own David Bianchi to bring more national attention to the tragic death of Miami-raised Antonio Tsialas. Antonio was a Cornell freshman who was enjoying his first few months at his dream school when, on October 24th, he went missing after attending a frat party Phi Kappa Psi. His body was found the next day at the bottom of a gorge. Thus far, no one at the party or at the university has come forward with information about how or why he died.
In the segment, the Tsialas family recounted how they found out about their son’s death. Both parents were in town the weekend their son went missing; his mother had dinner with him before Antonio left for the frat party and his father was arriving the next day. Once his parents discovered he was missing , they notified the police. His body was found soon after with all his belongings. Notably, however, the only thing missing was his phone which he had last used at the fraternity house.
Mr. Bianchi clarified the information his parents are looking for: why he died and who he was with when he died. Antonio’s closest friend at Cornell made it very clear that Antonio never would have gone to the area his body was found unless he was with someone else. Another particularly troubling fact: the night Antonio went missing, a fraternity officer at the party called Antonio’s dorm and insisted that Antonio’s presence at the fraternity party be kept a secret.
As for any possibility that Antonio was mugged, his body was found with his wallet. Only his phone was gone, which has still not been found. Mr. Bianchi has been able to get the information about who Antonio was texting from the service provider, which answers some questions about how he may have died. The theory behind his death currently is that the fraternity party, which was unauthorized by the university and illegally serving alcohol, is connected to the events that happened at the bottom of the gorge.
The full segment is below:
The Tsialas parents are still offering a $10,000 reward for any verifiable information about what happened to their son Antonio that night. Please call or text 607-280-5102 with any information.