Otto Warmbier, imprisoned in North Korea and freed in a coma, has died

Scroll down to read the full statement from the Warmbier family. 

No other outcome was possible.

That's the message in a brief statement issued Monday by Otto Warmbier’s family.

Warmbier, 22, was imprisoned for a year and a half in North Korea. He made it home this past week, but he was in a coma. Doctors described his condition as a state of “unresponsive wakefulness.”

At 2:20 p.m. Monday, he died.

“It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost – future time that won’t be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds,” reads a statement from parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier.

“But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched – Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two – that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family.”

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The Warmbiers thanked supporters for their thoughts and prayers, as well as the professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who cared for their son.

“Unfortunately,” they wrote, “the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.”

The death caps a heartbreaking saga that gripped the Warmbiers' small hometown, just a few miles north of Cincinnati. There, in Wyoming, Ohio, Otto Warmbier was a standout soccer player and a 2013 salutatorian at Wyoming High School, his alma mater.

He went on to the University of Virginia, and it was during college, in late 2015, that he traveled to North Korea with a Chinese-based tour group.

He was detained at the airport on Jan. 2, 2016, as the group was preparing to leave the country. He was charged with engaging in anti-state activity for allegedly trying to steal a poster from a hotel, and he was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years of hard labor.

His family got only one letter from him after his televised trial. After that, they heard nothing until shortly before June 13, when he was finally flown home.

Cincinnati doctors gave a press conference on Thursday to discuss Otto Warmbier's condition. They said he did not have any broken bones or marks on his body other than those which indicated medical treatment.

The doctors also said they found no indication of botulism – the explanation North Korean officials gave as leading to the coma – although it is likely the toxin would no longer be in the body after more than a year.

On Monday, hospital officials said they will not be releasing any more details about what, specifically, caused the death. 

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Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Fred Warmbier praised his son’s courage and tried to grapple with the bittersweet homecoming. There is relief, he said, “that Otto is now home in the arms of those who love him. And anger, that he was so brutally treated for so long.”

When he landed at Cincinnati’s Lunken Airport, their son was unable to see or speak, the Warmbiers wrote in their statement on Monday. He wasn’t reacting to verbal commands. “He looked very uncomfortable – almost anguished.”

After just one day, though, his face started to lighten. He looked at peace.   

“He was home and we believe he could sense that,” the Warmbiers wrote. “… We are at peace and at home too.” 

Reporters Deirdre Shesgreen and Sarah Brookbank contributed to this story. 

Below, read the full statement from Fred and Cindy Warmbier:

"It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20 pm.

It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost – future time that won’t be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched – Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two – that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family.

We would like to thank the wonderful professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who did everything they could for Otto. Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.

When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable – almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed – he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers. We are at peace and at home too."