Cause of 19-Year-Old Cadet’s Mysterious Death Revealed

Avery Koonce, the 19-year-old U.S. Air Force Academy cadet who was found dead in her Colorado dorm room last month, died of pneumonia, according to an autopsy report from the El Paso County Coroner’s Office. The autopsy report found the first-year cadet had a chronic cough that got worse. Her family released a statement after her death. “Our daughter Cadet Avery Koonce was an incredible bright light in this broken world,” Koonce’s parents, Eric and Kelly Koonce, said in a statement released by the academy a few days after her tragic death. “Our lives will forever be diminished because of her absence.” U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, who nominated Koonce to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, told the Austin American-Statesman that he was “incredibly saddened to hear about the loss of Cadet Koonce.”

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