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When 18-year-old Erica Buschick graduated from high school in Gurnee, Illinois, she had high hopes for her time in college and the future. Ever since Erica had been a student at Warren Township High School, she had known that she wanted to help people with developmental disabilities and pursue a degree in special education.
The National Honor Society member and top performing student was accepted to and ultimately attended Miami University in Ohio as a special education major. Though only a freshman, she made a point of joining a local chapter of Best Buddies, a volunteer organization dedicated to helping people with intellectual disabilities.
From the very first day of class, Erica loved being a college student. She wrote on her Facebook in late November, “I wanna go to college for the rest of my life.”
But then, tragedy struck.
Two months after Erica posted her effusive status online, police found her lying dead on a beanbag in her own dorm room.
Upon further investigation, the university police department are describing her tragic death as caused by “high-risk alcohol consumption.”
Here are the details they uncovered.
The night before Erica’s death on January 20, 2017, she had gone out with friends for a long night of binge drinking.
At 10 p.m. on January 19, Erica and her roommate had begun pregaming for their night out by polishing off two bottles of champagne. Afterward, they filled a Dasani water bottle half-full with vodka before heading to a friend’s apartment for a house party.
By the time it was 10:45 p.m., Erica and her friend had polished off the vodka they’d brought – and they didn’t stop there. Once they arrived at the house party, their friends brought out more vodka, supposedly cheap vodka that had been poured into an empty bottle of Grey Goose (a more expensive, high-end vodka).
From there, Erica and a few more of her friends headed to Brick Street Bar Uptown to continue their partying.
That was the first sign something was going wrong. Erica fell on the walk over and bar employees deemed her too drunk to enter the establishment. One of Erica’s party friends called up Erica’s roommate, Reilley Graves, asking her to come take Erica home since she was too drunk to continue partying with them.
Graves complied, calling a taxi to take both her and Erica back to their dorm room. They arrived after midnight, at which time, Erica fell onto her face as she tried to exit the taxi. She suffered multiple scrapes because of this. Graves then asked the taxi driver to help bring her inebriated friend back to their dorm room on the second floor.
The driver complied, carrying Erica up to her room before settling her on a beanbag and telling her roommate to take care of her before he left. Graves ended up falling asleep at around 1 a.m. and took a photo of Erica, prone on the beanbag, to share on Instagram.
But when Graves woke up the following morning, Erica was cold to the touch and hadn’t moved an inch from the night before.
Graves dialed 911, and when the police arrived, they declared Erica dead.
Investigators have not yet released an official toxicology report, but they suggest that Erica’s death was related to “high-risk alcohol consumption” from the night before. Graves admitted in an email several days later, that she’d gotten the two bottles of champagne and another bottle of pink wine from her garage refrigerator back at home.
Erica had also gotten some alcohol from her parents.
The Buschick family was informed of their youngest daughter’s death later that day. Eric Buschick had been returning home from a business trip when he heard the news. “She was my baby girl,” he sobbed.
Erica’s eldest sister, Loren, shared a similar tribute to her sister in the days following, “Erica was not just my little sister, she was my best friend, my other half, my everything,” she said. “My world revolved around her. Making her laugh, making her happy and making sure she was succeeding.”
The Buschick family is not blaming the university in any way for their daughter’s death, but they are hoping that the institution will now take greater measures to inform their students about the risks of alcohol consumption and safety.
Our hearts go out to the Buschick family and anyone affected.
