Fund started to help family of former Brick teen who died after party
BRICK — A GoFundMe page has been started to help the family of a 19-year-old former township resident who died Friday after a party while he was back visiting New Jersey.
A statement from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office says they were called to Ocean Medical Center in Brick after being alerted to the death of Austin Siler, who had been living in Kettering, Ohio. Hospital staff told investigators he had been brought to the hospital by friends that day and died that morning.
According to the Brick Patch, Siler was in town to attend the funeral of George Reilly, a local football coach. In the story, Siler's mother says she was told her son got to the party at a friend's house around midnight and was throwing up around 3 a.m.
Jenny Stover says she was fundraising with the family's permission to help with "out of state travel, loss of wages and burial expenses for Austin." After the family arrived in New Jersey to claim Austin's body, Stover said the plan was to have him returned to Ohio "sometime this week." As of Wednesday night, the fund had raised $7,370 out of a goal of $10,000.
While Stover says Siler's death is being treated as a homicide, prosecutors say "there is no evidence to suggest that the decedent's death is connected to any criminal activity."
Prosecutors said Siler's body was taken to Community Medical Center for an autopsy and that full toxicology findings are pending.
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Contact reporter Adam Hochron at 609-359-5326 or Adam.Hochron@townsquaremedia.com