3 Ole Miss Students Killed in Crash

The loss of three female University of Mississippi students early Saturday in a deadly accident on I-55 North near Batesville is the latest calamity to grip the Oxford campus."This is one more terrible tragedy involving the lives of University of Mississippi students," Jeffrey Alford, associate vice chancellor for university relations, said Saturday."The death of a young person is always painful. How many more of these tragedies can we stand?"
Freshman Graham Carson, 18, of Marks; freshman Camille Willis, 19, of Batesville; and sophomore Leslie Pitcock, 19, of Pope died about 1:30 a.m. after they were ejected from a Jeep Cherokee driven by Joshua McDowell, 19, of Courtland, said Lt. Steve Gladney of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol.They were coming back from Friday night's Class 5A high school championship game in Jackson between South Panola and Meridian.
Carson, Willis and Pitcock were not wearing their seat belts, said Gracie Gulledge, Panola County coroner.Carson and Willis died immediately, Gulledge said. Pitcock was flown to a hospital in Memphis and died a few hours later, Gulledge said.McDowell, who was wearing his seat belt, was treated at a hospital in Batesville and released later Saturday, Gulledge said. McDowell was northbound on I-55 when the Jeep left the roadway, went into the median, returned into the northbound lanes, left the roadway on the right side and rolled, Gladney said. He said investigators are trying to determine why the Jeep entered the median. Finals at Ole Miss and most Mississippi colleges and universities concluded Friday. Even so, news of the deaths spread quickly to students and Ole Miss faculty. Friends of the young women said Pitcock was Carson's "big sister" in their sorority, Delta Delta Delta, and Willis was a member of Chi Omega sorority. Big sisters serve as mentors to their little sisters, especially during the younger member's pledgeship but also through life. Lauren Tucker, 20, a junior from Jackson, Tenn., was the sorority big sister of Pitcock."I was supposed to always be there for her (Pitcock), but she was always there for me. I couldn't have picked a better little sis," Tucker said. Pitcock "was always worried if you were having a good day. "I'm going to miss her a whole, whole lot, and I know the sorority is going to miss her a whole lot. I talked to her Sunday. ... She was saying how she couldn't believe how fast her first year and a half of college had gone by," Tucker said. Pitcock was majoring in family and consumer sciences and management and marketing, Tucker said. She was a graduate of Senatobia Junior-Senior High. Delta Delta Delta member Lindsey Phyfer, a junior from Jackson, Miss., said Carson "was just always full of energy. She just always seemed like she was happy."Pitcock, she said, "was just really artistic. Today at the Tri Delta house, I was showing our maids Leslie's picture on the composite, and they all recognized her because they said they remembered her smiling face.""Leslie and Camille (Willis) were best buddies. Graham and Camille were really close, too," Phyfer said.
"It's (Monday, the day of all three women's funerals) just going to be a long day."Ole Miss has had more than its share of tragedies in recent years, including the deaths of three male students in an August 2004 fraternity house fire and the violent killings of two female students, one in 2004 and another last month. Longtime Dean of Students Sparky Reardon knew those who died and their families."They were just three wonderful young women," Reardon said. "As a community, spread out as we are right now during the holidays, we have one ache in our hearts."You know that you do everything you can to love them while they are here, and you encourage them to be careful, especially during the holidays," Reardon said. Leslie Pitcock had come to him recently to inquire about studying abroad next summer in Italy, a country Reardon has visited. "She was very interested in studying abroad," Reardon said. Pitcock was a frequent customer at Lamia's Boutique in Highland Village in Jackson. Sandra Strain, a member of the family that operates the business, sobbed Saturday. "She was just friends with everybody," Strain said about the tall, dark-haired girl. "She felt sorry for people who were picked on ... She always felt sorry for the underdog . I tell you, I have never met anyone like this in my life."At Saturday's playoff in Jackson for the Class 1A state high school football championship, the three women were remembered in the pregame prayer.