A young female student at the University of New Orleans was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital unconscious. The day before her death, the young lady took an Uber following a night out on the town with friends during Mardi Gras, according to reports.
On Friday, the 21-year-old South Carolina lady, Ciaya Jordan Whetstone, attended Mardi Gras parades with one of her friends, Juliet Orr. According to the New Orleans Advocate, Whetstone later went to a bar with some other pals before being driven by a friend to her boyfriend’s home in the suburb of Hanrahan.
Whetstone left her boyfriend’s house and then took an Uber to her apartment in Gentilly to check on her dog in the middle of the night, her friend Orr told the news outlet.
Before heading to her apartment, Whetstone reportedly told her roommate, Reese White, that she was going with the Uber driver — whom she described as a friend — to “go find her car.”
White told the paper on Sunday that she tried to convince Whetstone not to go, but she wouldn’t listen.
Another friend of Whetstone, Roberto Torres, said he called Whetstone around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, and during their conversation, he could the driver asking her, “Do you like to party?”
According to Torres, Whetstone ended the call and said she would call him back — but never did.
About 7 a.m., an unidentified person dropped Whetstone off at a hospital, where she was declared dead, the Advocate reported saying it was unclear who dropped her off there.
Whetstone’s cause of death hasn’t been released yet.
Whetstone’s stepfather, Chris Ferrand, told the paper that the family is devastated, adding, “We’ve got a difficult few days ahead of us.”
