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Patrick Noel Jernigan II separated from friends sometime after 11 p.m. Oct. 15 in the Northgate area near campus.
Just before 2 a.m., a train struck and killed the Texas A&M student on the tracks north of Old Main Drive.
That leaves three hours unaccounted for, prompting investigators to say learning what Jernigan was doing during that time will be key to figuring out what led the devoted father of a 3-year-old girl to be on the tracks.
Police on Monday asked anyone who may have seen Jernigan in those hours or who has knowledge about where the 22-year-old may have been to call the University Police Department at 845-2345.
The Cleveland, Texas-native was at Northgate with a group of fellow industrial distribution majors, one of whom received a call from him saying that he had been asked to leave by a bar's staff member.
"He wasn't seen again until he was struck by the train," said Detective Travis Lively of the University Police Department.
Police weren't sure whether the Union Pacific train's conductor saw Jernigan on the track. Lively said investigators are meeting with Union Pacific officials Tuesday.
Jernigan's sister, Alex, said she didn't notice anything unusual during a conversation with him earlier that day. She said her brother wouldn't willingly leave his daughter, Olivia, and was looking forward to coming home that weekend and graduating in December.
"He wasn't depressed at all," she said.
Police are awaiting autopsy and toxicology results, which could take up to three weeks, Lively said.
