BATON ROUGE — An LSU student and her fiancé died after they were struck by a vehicle while walking along Nicholson Drive early Sunday morning, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department. 

The crash occurred around 2:40 a.m. in the 5000 block of Nicholson Drive near Lee Drive when 20-year-old Mia Dawson, who was driving a 2016 Nissan Rogue southbound on Nicholson Drive, allegedly veered off the road, striking two pedestrians who were walking on the right shoulder of the roadway.

Officers later located Dawson in the 1900 block of Nicholson Drive, where she was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on several charges, including operating while impaired, reckless operation of a vehicle, hit-and-run driving, vehicular homicide and vehicular negligent injuring. 

Following the crash, Shane Hirstius, 21, was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, while LSU student Leah Fonte, 21, was pronounced dead on the scene.

On Sunday, LSU officials revealed that Leah Fonte was a senior who was studying biological sciences.

“On behalf of the LSU System and all nine of the institutions that make up our LSU family, we send sincere condolences to the Fonte family as they learn of Leah’s passing,” said President Wade Rousse. “We pray that God will comfort those she loved during this time of reflection and mourning.”

Fonte and Hirstius, both from Metairie, got engaged in 2025. 

The investigation remains ongoing.