By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-06 01:36:00 | Updated at 2026-08-06 15:16:20
16 hours ago
It was Saturday night and 19-year-old Madison Brooks was out for a good time.
Louisiana born and raised, the sassy and adventurous cheerleader joined the river of student revelers flowing through Tigerland, the Baton Rouge neighborhood near Louisiana State University's campus, famed for its plethora of bars.
Brooks, who intended to major in communications, met up with a family friend whose mother was in the same sorority as hers.
'I love you!!!' texted Brooks to her mother at 11.38pm, with a photo of the two youngsters together inside Reggie's Bar, an infamous spot for cheap drinks and rowdy student socializing.
Then the phone fell silent. The next few hours are a blur.
But what is known is this: Brooks's mother, Ashley Baustert, was contacted by police in the early hours of Sunday morning, January 15, 2023, and told that her daughter was in hospital. She had been hit by a car not far from that Tigerland bar and was dying of her injuries.
A week later, the sad story took an appalling turn: detectives told Baustert they believe Brooks had been raped by multiple men in the back of a car shortly before she stumbled out and was struck by the passing vehicle.
On August 17, Baustert will come face to face with one of the three men accused of attacking her daughter and charged with rape as jury selection for 17-year-old Desmond Carter's trial begins.
Madison Brooks was fatally struck by a car after she was allegedly sexually assaulted in the back of a car by several men after a night out near Louisiana State University's campus
Casen Carver, 18, Kaivon Washington, 18, Everett Lee, 28, and Desmond Carter, 17, (L-R) were all arrested. Lee was not indicted by the grand jury which charged the others
Brooks died after a night out in Tigerland, the Baton Rouge neighborhood near Louisiana State University's campus, famed for its plethora of bars
'My immediate family plan to attend every day of the trial,' Baustert told the Daily Mail. 'It's going to be hard, especially because I have two other children at home. Separating those feelings and then coming home and being a mom is going to be a challenge.
'Honestly, I don't know how I prepare. I'm just going to take it moment by moment, day by day. If I need to leave the courtroom, I'll quietly excuse myself. But I'm going to try my best to be there. I feel it's my duty to be there for her.'
This week, Carter's lawyer requested that the judge forbid Brooks's friends and family from wearing pink to court in a show of support, arguing that it would create 'a carnival atmosphere' and deny him a fair trial. The judge is yet to rule on the request.
Carter's lawyers argue that he and his friends offered to give Brooks a lift home after she lost her friends and her phone.
The group is seen on surveillance camera footage leaving the bar and walking towards the car, Brooks teetering as she went.
Kerry Miller, the lawyer for Brooks's family, said that he obtained a video filmed by the men showing Carter having sex with Brooks in the back of the car.
In it, Miller claimed, a second teenager, Kaivon Washington, 18 at the time, appears to hold Brooks down.
Both Carter and Washington deny rape and say the sex was consensual. No date has been set for Washington's trial.
A third teenager, Casen Carver, also 18, is not accused of sexually assaulting Brooks – he was in the front seat – but is accused of rape because he was in the car at the time. He too has denied the charge. His trial begins in November.
A fourth man in the car, 28-year-old Everett Lee, was not indicted by the grand jury which charged the others.
Miller argues that the case is straightforward because the heavily intoxicated Brooks was evidently unable to consent.
Her blood alcohol was four times the limit, at 0.319.
Indeed, troubling video filmed by Carver shows him laughing and telling the camera: 'These guys are crazy! They finna [fixing to] rape her.'
They claim Brooks's muffled voice can be heard above blaring music yelling: 'Get off!'
Louisiana born and raised, the sassy and adventurous cheerleader intended to major in communications
The group is seen on surveillance camera footage leaving the bar and walking towards the car, Brooks teetering as she went
This week, Carter's lawyer requested that the judge forbid Brooks's friends and family from wearing pink to court in a show of support. Madi is pictured above with friends from her Alpha Phi sorority
It's not how the family want her to be remembered. They are adamant that she be known as the kind, fun, go-getting soul she truly was.
On the Friday before her death, she picked up her brothers, aged eight and nine, from school near Baustert's Covington home.
Brooks then drove the 60 miles back to Baton Rouge to celebrate a friend's birthday on campus, collecting a cake before she went.
'She was planning on coming back home Saturday to get the rest of her things,' said Baustert. She told Fox News: 'I told her, "You don't need to come back home. I've got everything. I will do it all. I'll meet you on Sunday at 2pm. Just enjoy your last weekend before school starts."'
Brooks ran upstairs to kiss her brothers goodbye, interrupting their PlayStation game to tell them: 'I love you, bubs. See you in a couple of days.'
It would be the last time they saw her.
When the terrible news broke, Baustert rushed to Baton Rouge – driven by her own parents, knowing she was not in a fit state to get behind the wheel.
Brooks's father John Brooks, who lives in Florida, also sped to the scene. Both parents reached their daughter just in time to say goodbye, 'while she was still breathing.'
Baustert recalled: 'We found out that she's not going to make it, so my first and only priority was spending the last few moments that she had with her.'
Brooks's uncle and grandmother returned to the bar in Tigerland where Brooks had left her phone. The more they thought about the events of the night the more it troubled them.
'We were like: There's no way Madi put herself, at three in the morning, on the parkway, in that neighborhood, without her phone. Like, no one would do that,' Baustert said.
They were informed a week later that a criminal investigation had been opened. 'I had to leave the room,' the mother recalled in May 2024, describing the moment she was told the horrifying news. 'I fell to my knees. It was a nightmare. The last few seconds of her life, and what transpired.'
Reggie's lost its license for serving alcohol to underage people and has since closed down.
Baustert is pleased the venue has shut its doors, telling the Daily Mail it was 'one hundred percent the right thing.'
And what does she hope will happen at the three forthcoming trials?
'I want them to be held accountable to the highest extent of the law,' she said.
In the months and years since the awful night that took Brooks from them, her family and friends have all worked to keep the vibrant young woman's legacy alive.
Brooks had met up with a family friend, whose mother was in the same sorority as hers
On August 17, Brooks's mother, Ashley Baustert, will come face to face with one of the three men accused of attacking her daughter
In the months and years since that awful night, Brooks's family and friends have all worked to keep the vibrant young woman's legacy alive
'Madi lived her life to the fullest and enjoyed the simple pleasures of beach days with friends, shopping with her mother and Friday night football games as a cheerleader,' her family wrote.
'Her brave spirit and sense of adventure led her to ski down the Rocky Mountains with her mother and sky dive over the Grand Canyon with her father.
'Madi was a sorority sister at Alpha Phi and championed friendship, unity and women's heart health. In her last act of kindness, Madi donated her heart and kidneys to save the lives of others.
'Her heart was pure, her laugh infectious and her life was one that will forever shine in the stars above.'
Indeed, the family registered a star in the Taurus constellation as the Madi Brooks Star, noting: 'As only Madi would have it, her star is located at the tip of the bull's upper horn as a reminder to be BRAVE, STRONG & FEARLESS.'
They urged her friends and family to use a hashtag, 'MadiMadeMeSmile,' to remember joyful moments, and carry out 'a random act of kindness where you also leave/distribute one of Madi's cards so that we light up the world with her spirit and smile.'
And they set up a foundation in Brooks's name, dedicated to giving financial support to those needing it; campaigning for improved safety for young adults; and encouraging organ donation.
Baustert told crime reporter Nancy Grace she was grateful that her daughter was comforted on the road by two people, the devastated driver of the car, and a passerby.
'I do hold on to the fact that the people in that vehicle were not the last people who were with her,' said Baustert.
'I know God sent those two guardian angels to be with her, to pray over her, and that does give me some peace.'
