A 22-year-old man has been charged with murder after a car crash which resulted in the deaths of four Pepperdine University students.
Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams were all declared dead at the scene after Fraser Bohm lost control of his BMW on 17 October.
Bohm had been driving over the speed limit on a famously dangerous stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway known as 'Dead Man's Curve' before the incident took place at 8:30pm local time.
The driver struck several parked cars which collided with the four students, who were all part of the same sorority, as they were walking nearby in the 21600 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
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Two other victims were hospitalized after the incident, though Bohm emerged from the vehicle unharmed.
He was tackled by witnesses before being taken into custody by police and charged initially with gross vehicular manslaughter.
However, Bohm was then released to allow detectives time to 'gather the evidence needed to secure the strongest criminal filing and conviction', the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department explained.
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"When a case is presented to the District Attorney's Office, you need to present supporting evidence for the specific charges being requested for filing within 48 hours," the department said.
"In this specific case, the evidence including toxicology, speed analysis, execution of search warrants, etc. was still pending and took additional time to collect."
Investigators collected the additional evidence before presenting the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Bohm has since been charged with four counts of murder, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He is being held on $8,000,000 bail.
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Pepperdine University president Jim Gash announced the deaths of the four students in a letter, telling the community that they had learned 'four precious lives who brought joy and light to our campus were taken from us suddenly, tragically, and incomprehensibly'.
"Indeed, one of the greatest mysteries of life is when and why our time on this earth is cut short. In such times, we hold firm to our faith in the God who sustains and nourishes us even when—and especially when—we experience life’s most significant losses," the letter continued.
All four students, who were just 20 and 21 years old, are set to receive their degrees posthumously following their tragic deaths.
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Aubrey Lewis, a fellow Pepperdine student, described Peyton, Asha, Niamh and Desilyn as her 'best friends'.
"They were everything," she added.
A memorial will be placed on the campus of Pepperdine's Seaver College of Liberal Arts to honor the students.
Emily Brown