Carrie Ogden, kinesiology senior, shot and killed herself outside a Tigerland bar early Sunday morning.
Cpl. LJean McKneely, Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman, said police arrived on the scene at 2:45 a.m., shortly after they heard witnesses yelling in JL’s Place parking lot.
McKneely said officers attempted to revive Ogden, but were unsuccessful.
Friends of Ogden, who was 23 years old, said she had an “unmistakable charm that always made you feel better.”
“You didn’t have to know her long to feel close to her,” said Katie Gustin, accounting senior and a friend of Ogden’s.
Gustin and many more of Ogden’s friends said their fondest memories of their friend centered around Ogden’s relationship with her dog, Chica.
“There are too many memories to pick just one,” said Lindsay Hymel, graduate student and friend of Ogden’s. “But I’ll always laugh when I think of her with Chica.”
Hymel said Ogden taught her dog to sing.
“It was so funny to see a big cow of a dog howling along with Carrie,” she said. “Chica was huge, bigger than Carrie.”
Ogden’s friends said any night out with her was sure to be a good time.
“We were always either at Reggie’s or JL’s,” Hymel said. “It was our routine. We always knew where we were going, and it was always a good time.”
Gustin said Ogden had confidence that infected others.
“Carrie loved to dance,” she said. “She knew she looked stupid dancing and she just didn’t care. She just wanted to have a good time.”
But Hymel said Ogden’s confidence was about more than just having fun.
She said Ogden was a “strong person who was always there when you needed her.
“She was strong enough to ride out [Hurricane] Katrina in the attic of her house on the West Bank,” Hymel said. “You knew she was strong because you have to have strength to give strength to your friends.”
Friends said Ogden loved to collect shoes and had a collection of more than 100 pairs.
“She was the ‘Stiletto Queen,'” Gustin said. “She was beautiful, both inside and out. It sounds cliche, but it’s how she was.”
Gustin said Ogden planned to go to physical therapy school after graduating from the University.
“She always gave of herself, and she had so much left to give,” she said.
Richie McClosky, business administration senior and Ogden’s boyfriend, said in an e-mail that he will never forget her “amazing blue eyes.”
“She was the most important person in my life,” McClosky said. “She was always doing something to make me laugh, and we had some very good times together.”
While Hymel said Ogden’s death is hard to comprehend, she said she takes comfort in the fond memories she has of her friend.
“Her life didn’t end Sunday,” Hymel said. “She left part of herself in everyone she met. She was just that kind of person.”
Contact Jeff Jeffrey at [email protected]
This article was published October 4, 2005.