ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mourning cheerleaders from Hackettstown High School left the funeral Mass for Randolph cheerleader Lauren Crossan at the Resurrection Parish Roman Catholic Church in Randolph, N.J., yesterday. Crossan died after falling from a hotel balcony on Maui shortly after arriving for a National Cheerleaders Convention.
New Jersey town mourns
teenager who died in fallFriends remember the popular
cheerleader as strong-willed
RANDOLPH, N.J. >> More than 500 mourners gathered yesterday at Resurrection Roman Catholic for the funeral of Lauren Crossan, the 18-year-old Randolph High School cheerleader who fell 80 feet from a Maui hotel balcony a week ago.
Crossan, who had been selected to participate in college football's Hula Bowl festivities on Saturday, was remembered as a popular, cheerful, strong-willed individualist by friends and family.
The Rev. John Andrew Connell tried to soothe mourners' anguish.
"Why do bad things happen to good people?" Connell asked. "Why is life at times so unfair? There are no definitive answers."
Connell said death was "but a walk through the shadow," assuring mourners that Crossan was now beginning "a new way of living."
Afterward, the teen's silver casket was borne out of the church in a procession led by two dozen young girls carrying candles. It was taken for burial at Locust Hill Cemetery in nearby Dover.
Police said Crossan fell from a ninth-floor room, registered to two Folsom, Calif., men she met at the hotel shortly after she arrived on the island Jan. 11.
Police said Crossan went to the room of Erik Larson, 20, and Donald Devorss, 19, sometime that night.
Her nude body was found the next morning by a hotel guest. Her clothes were later found on the floor of the men's hotel room.
A preliminary autopsy showed evidence of alcohol in Crossan's system, but no alcohol containers or any other drugs were found in the room from which she fell.
Police have classified the death as an accident but are continuing to investigate.
Acting Maui police Lt. Tivoli Faaumu said yesterday there have been no new developments. Faaumu said while there are no indications of foul play, detectives are still investigating and hope to have the results of toxicological tests in one to two weeks.
Crossan's parents have hired Maui attorney James Krueger to also investigate her death.
Star-Bulletin reporter Gary T. Kubota contributed to this report.
