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FREDERICTON (CUP) — Details of the events surrounding the death of Silas Rogers are going to take longer to come to light than some might expect.

The 20-year-old man from Saint John, N.B. died after being found unconscious in a University of British Columbia residence during the final week of the Olympics — a day after being released from a holding cell for being drunk in public.

The investigation is expected to take months.

“Sometimes it takes up to a year, sometimes even more,” says Lori Campbell, a forensic toxicology specialist with the RCMP forensic lab in Halifax. She says the coroner has to draw samples, which have to be sent to a lab in Vancouver.

Those results, though, take months — and then other information has to be gathered from tests for police to release an autopsy report. Only then will information about Rogers's death become public.

The exact cause of death and the events leading up to the discovery of his body are being investigated, but this much is known: he was arrested by RCMP in Whistler, B.C. on Feb. 23 for being drunk in public. He was released the next morning, only to be found unconscious 23 hours later. He died the following day, Friday, in a Vancouver hospital.

Rogers was a student at UBC, having moved there after graduating from Saint John High School.

"He was my best friend," says Ben Savoie, an English student at St. Thomas University in Fredericton who used to go to UBC with Rogers.

"I'm one of few who was privileged to be with Silas through many changes."

Savoie went to school with Rogers from grade seven onwards at École Samuel de Champlain in Saint John. The two later transferred to Saint John High together, and when Rogers headed west to UBC, Savoie followed eight months later.

"He was the most sociable, fun-loving person I've ever known. He was socially magnificent — me, not so much — but he brought me around regardless, and slowly, through him I met friends that I still have to this day.

"He was almost a magnet, he attracted such good people all through high school."

Savoie fell back into Rogers' social network when he started at UBC, and the two remained close.

"He never had an issue making friends — his humour definitely helped there. He'd perform stand-up, and actually be quite good. Always brought down the house."

"Even though he knew and was friendly with nearly everyone he met, we kept a small group of five that were extremely close. He was always there, the most reliable person I've ever known."

The Vancouver Police Department is investigating the case, but is hesitant to release information. Jana McGuinness, a media relations officer with the department, says the police still aren't even able to officially release so much as Rogers’s name in connection with the case, only referring to him as UBC student.

“The police haven’t released it publicly because the cause of death is not determined. If it’s a homicide, we release the name quickly afterwards. But when the cause of death is undetermined, there are privacy rules.

“Whatever the cause of death might be, we have to be careful respecting the family,” she says.

McGuinness says the investigation will examine what happened over the four days — from the Tuesday of Rogers's arrest until his death on Friday, Feb. 26.

The Vancouver police were asked by the the RCMP to take on the investigation on Thursday, while Rogers was still alive.

"The RCMP wanted us to cover all the bases,” says McGuiness.

A new policy was enacted on Feb. 4 by the RCMP to defer investigations of RCMP employees to an outside agency, including those investigations involving injury or death. “That’s why the Vancouver police have this investigation," she says.

Campbell points out that it isn’t customary to release bits of information to the public as it’s gathered.

“Sometimes it’s not quick enough for the family, though,” she says.