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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 12:33 p.m., Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Cheerleader had high alcohol level

Advertiser Staff and News Services

A New Jersey cheerleader who died Jan. 12 in a fall from the Hyatt Regency in Ka'anapali had a blood-alcohol reading of .18 percent, police said today.

Any alcohol in her system would be illegal, since Lauren Crossan was under the legal drinking age of 21. The legal standard for drunken driving cases is .08.

Lahaina police Lt. Tivoli Faaumu said detectives are waiting for other toxicological reports that would confirm the alcohol reading and whether Crossan, a senior at Randolph High School in New Jersey, consumed any other drugs.

Police also drew blood from the two California men whose ninth-floor balcony Crossan is believed to have fallen from, but those results aren’t back, Faaumu said. Erik B. Larson, 20, and Donald L. Devorss, 19, both of Folsom, were arrested for questioning in the death but were released without being charged.

They reported falling asleep and not knowing Crossan’s whereabouts when they woke up, police said.

Faaumu said there are no apparent signs of foul play, no signs of a struggle, or any evidence of sexual abuse or contact. All the injuries were consistent with a fall.

Faaumu said police are looking into how Crossan obtained alcohol, since the two men also were under the legal drinking age.

A hotel guest found Crossan’s nude body below the Hyatt’s Lahaina Tower the morning of Jan. 12. Preliminary autopsy results indicate she died from injuries from the fall.

Police have found no evidence that foul play was involved.

"There’s a lot of mystery to it that’s the challenge to all of us," Faaumu has said. "Nobody heard or saw anything."

Crossan had come to Maui with the National Cheerleaders Association to perform at last Saturday’s Hula Bowl Maui.

More than 500 mourners gathered at Resurrection ParishCatholic Church in Randolph yesterday for Crossan’s funeral.

She was remembered as a popular, cheerful, strong-willed individualist by friends and family.

In readings from Scripture, the Rev. John Andrew Connell tried to soothe mourners’ anguish.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?" said Connell, pastor of the church. "Why is life at times so unfair? There are no definitive answers."

Connell said death was but a walk through a shadow, assuring mourners that Crossan was now beginning "a new way of living."

Clusters of friends tried to express their shock at Crossan’s mysterious death.

"It’s weird just talking about it," said Will Mravlag, 18, a senior classmate at Randolph High School, just down the road from the church. "It’s hard to believe. She was so excited about it. That’s all she talked about in English class."

Crossan’s parents have hired Maui attorney James Krueger to investigate.

"Our involvement is to investigate along with the police as to what really happened," Krueger said. "We don’t have anything now that is persuasive in solving the issue."