Story highlights

A judge has ordered the case sealed; police don't name the suspect

The body of Crispin Scott, 20, was found January 7 in a Barcelona suburb

The Dartmouth student was in Barcelona on a study-abroad program

Madrid CNN  — 

The death of an American college student last month, which investigators in Barcelona initially considered to be accidental, is now under investigation as a homicide and a suspect has been arrested, the Catalan regional police said in a statement.

A 41-year-old Ecuadorian man has been arrested in the Esplugues de Llobregat suburb of Barcelona, according to the police statement released Saturday. The body of 20-year-old Dartmouth College student Crispin Scott was found January 7 in the same suburb.

Scott was on a study-abroad program in Barcelona that was run by Oregon’s Portland State University, Charles Inman, the coordinator of the program, told CNN on Monday by telephone from Barcelona.

A judge has ordered the case sealed. Police did not provide the suspect’s name.

Scott arrived in Barcelona before the official start of the study-abroad program, and on January 6 he went with other Dartmouth students – not those from the Portland State program – for dinner and drinks in a popular nightlife area along the city’s Mediterranean shore, Inman said.

Scott never returned to his apartment and did not appear January 7 for a program orientation lunch, Inman said.

Inman alerted authorities and was told January 8 about the discovery of Scott’s body.

Scott, a native of Seattle, played on the Dartmouth men’s rugby team, his college newspaper reported in January.