Four male suspects have been detained in connection with the rape of a member of a sorority at Louisiana State University who was later thrown on the side of the road and killed by a passing vehicle, according to police.
More than a week after 19-year-old Madison Brooks was fatally struck in Baton Rouge, Kaivon Deondre Washington, Everett Lee, and Casen Carver handed themselves in on Monday, the Advocate reported.
According to the outlet, a fourth suspect, a 17-year-old lad who was not named because he is a minor, turned himself in on Sunday.
According to the publication, Brooks had been drinking when she met the 17-year-old suspect on January 15 at Reggie’s, a bar close to the LSU campus.
According to an arrest warrant, she left between one and two in the morning with the teenager and the other three accused.
Brooks “was quite unstable on her feet, was unable to maintain her balance, and was unable to talk clearly without slurring her words,” Carver admitted to police, according to the affidavit.
Carver claimed that Brooks asked for a lift home and that he saw them “holding and strolling together” while speaking to the 17-year-old lad.
“He admitted that he agreed to give her a ride because he did not want to leave her while very intoxicated and the bar was closing up,” the arrest warrant says
Carver stated to the investigators that he was the driver, Lee was in the front passenger seat, Washington, the 17-year-old, and Brooks were in the rear.
When he asked Brooks for her address, he claimed that she “fell over and was unable to respond.” He then drove a short distance and pulled over, according to the warrant.
The paper claims that Carver “said he overheard his 17-year-old juvenile friend asking the victim if she wanted to have sex with him five times,” to which Brooks “provided verbal agreement.”
He said the 17-year-old and Washington then had sex with Brooks before he told them, “We got to stop this, let’s go,” the document says.
When asked during the police interview if he thought the woman was too impaired to give consent to sex, Carver said, “I guess.”
Police also interviewed Washington, who said he was sad about Brooks’ death, but also admitted that he laughed while he walked behind her earlier and thought, “How y’all meet a random girl and just bring her home?”
He said they later dropped Brooks off at a nearby subdivision, where she was struck around 3 a.m. by a rideshare driver on Burbank Drive near Pelican Lakes Parkway.
Investigators said she had a blood-alcohol content of 0.319% — nearly four times the legal limit.
(From left) Casen Carver, 18, Kaivon Washington, 18, and Everett Lee, 28, were all arrested on rape-related charges. A 17-year-old also was charged.
Lee and Carver were charged with conspiracy to commit third-degree rape, while Washington and an unnamed 17-year-old were charged with third-degree rape.
A third-degree rape charge in Louisiana typically involves a victim who is “incapable of resisting or of understanding the nature of the act due to a stupor or abnormal condition of mind produced by an intoxicating agent or any cause,” according to the law, according to KSLA. The offender knew or should have known of the victim’s incapacity.
According to Ron Haley, a lawyer for two of the suspects, this was “certainly not a rape. This is a tragedy, not a crime, remember that.
He told the outlet that a video taken during the incident shows Brooks was coherent.
“Can you tell that she was intoxicated, yes. To the point under the law that you say you’re in a drunken stupor, to the point that you cannot lawfully give consent or answer questions, absolutely that was not the case,” Haley told WAFB.
The attorney claimed Brooks and Carver got into an argument in his car.
“Based on a disagreement, she got out of the vehicle. She indicated she was getting an Uber. I want the public to know, these young men or really the driver of the vehicle and the young men that were in there, did not put her off on the side of the road,” he said.
Brooks, a native of Covington, Louisiana, was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, KSLA reported.
“Madi was a bubbly, loving, and selfless friend. She left an indelible mark on our chapter, we cherish our memories together and we will never forget her. Our forever friend was also a hero, Madi donated her heart and kidneys to save others,” the sorority said on Instagram on Monday.
“We send our deepest sympathies to her family and friends during this incredibly difficult time. And we respectfully ask for time and space so we may support each other in our healing process,” it added.
“Our collective grief and outrage cannot be put into mere words. So what can we do? It is time for action. One place to target our attention is the very place where this encounter began,” Tate wrote.
