Mother of LSU student who died after alleged rape reveals daughter Madison Brooks’ last text to her
Ashley Baustert, the mother of the LSU student who died in January after she was allegedly raped, revealed the last text she received from her teen before her tragic passing.
Speak with Fox News digitalBaustert said she texted her daughter, Madison Brooks, late Saturday night, Jan. 14, saying, “See you tomorrow.”
The two planned to meet the next morning to finalize Brooks’ move into her dorm before the start of her second semester at LSU.
Brooks, who was at Reggie’s Bar, sent a text back to her mother at 11:38 PM saying, “I love you!!!” and added a photo of her with one of her mother’s sorority sons.
About three and a half hours later, Brooks was hit by a car and lay dying in the middle of a busy Baton Rouge, Louisiana parkway as rain poured onto the sidewalk.
First responders rushed the teen to a local hospital, but she could not be saved.
Madi Brooks died on January 15 in Louisiana after being hit by a car on a busy parkway at 3 a.m. after a night of drinking with her friends at a local college lot.
Her mom Ashley Baustert said the “pure adventurer would make sure she ‘lived each day to the fullest'”
Initially, investigators thought the 19-year-old had died in a tragic, but not criminal, car accident. But her mother said, “I knew right away there was foul play.”
“I know something was wrong. I know something terrible has happened,’ Baustert said. “Based on the circumstances of how she was hit, where she was, the time and her being alone.”
The driver who hit Brooks remained at the scene with the dying girl and immediately called 911, according to police. Two Good Samaritans pulled over and tried to help save Brooks before medical personnel arrived.
Baustert booked it at the local hospital, which is about 90 minutes away in Louisiana. Brooks’ father rushed from Florida and other family members rushed to the local hospital.
The teen’s parents reached her in time to say goodbye “while she was still breathing,” according to her mother.
“We found out she’s not going to make it, so my first and only priority was to spend the last few moments she had with her,” Baustert said.
Baustert’s mother, Brooks’ grandmother, said her focus, once she got to the hospital, was to keep her daughter from falling apart.
“The police were at the hospital when we went there. The police were at the door. I didn’t think about anything. I was concerned about keeping her stable,” said Bauster’s mother, Mandy LeBlanc.
LeBlanc and her son, Baustert’s brother, eventually made their way to Reggie’s Bar after the tragedy, where they had to retrieve Brooks’ cell phone, which she had left behind.
Baustert said leaving her daughter’s phone behind was a big red flag and an indication that something bad had happened.
The billboard in Times Square commemorating Madi Brooks and promoting the Madison Brooks Foundation, which was established to help those in financial need
Two of the four men who were with Madi Brooks before her death have been charged with various sex crimes, the other two await grand jury indictments
Madi Brooks (center) with her mother, two brothers and father
“We thought Madi couldn’t possibly put herself on the parkway in that neighborhood at three in the morning without her phone,” Baustert said. “As if no one would.”
Reggie’s Bar was located in Tigerland, a popular part of town for LSU students that has become a crime-ridden part of Baton Rouge.
After Brooks’ phone was recovered, her mother’s suspicions were confirmed and the case became a criminal investigation.
Sometime between Brooks’ 11:38 p.m. text to her mother and the 3 a.m. accident that killed her, police said the young woman was allegedly raped by four men she met at the bar meet.
Desmond Carter, 17, Casen Carver, 18, Everett Lee, 28, and Kaivon Washington, 18, were all arrested in connection with the alleged rape.
After the alleged attack, some men pushed Brooks out of the car and onto the side of Burbank Highway, a busy divided highway several miles from the bar, criminal complaints allege.
At the time of her death, Brooks had an alcohol content of 0.319 percent, which is nearly four times the legal limit for driving. Authorities believe Brooks stumbled onto the street where she was hit by an oncoming vehicle.
Madi Brooks’ mother, Ashley Baustert, stands in front of the Times Square billboard to memorialize her daughter and promote the nonprofit founded after her death
Madison Brooks poses for photos with her friends at Reggie’s college bar in East Baton Rouge
At this time, Carter and Carver have been indicted by grand juries on first- and third-degree rape charges. Carter, who is 17, will be tried as an adult.
Washington and Lee are still awaiting charges and have been charged with third degree rape and principle to third degree rape, respectively. Washington has also been arrested in connection with two previous rapes.
Every step toward justice — including the indictment of two of the defendants on higher charges and the closing of Reggie’s Bar — are “moments to be thankful for,” Baustert said.