NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — It’s been almost two weeks since UNO student Ciaya Whetstone died after taking an Uber home, and now her family is demanding answers.
On Thursday, March 3 at 11 a.m., Miranda and Christopher Ferrand, Whetstone’s mother and stepfather, will speak publicly for the first time since their daughter’s passing.
Whetstone’s death occurred sometime in the morning of Saturday, February 19. Ciaya had reportedly attended a Mardi Gras party the night before when she left to take care of her dog around 1:30 a.m.
She ordered an Uber to take her home, not knowing she was in the final hours of her life. Later that morning around 6:30, the same Uber driver who picked her up had dropped her off at the New Orleans East Hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly after.
The details of how Ciaya died remain a mystery.
Her family will speak at the University of New Orleans, where their daughter was a senior finishing her degree in psychology and neuroscience.
According to a statement, the family is represented by attorney Justin Bamberg, who also serves as a South Carolina state representative. Their legal team includes Atlanta attorney L. Chris Stewart and New Orleans attorneys Michael Adams and Brandon DeCuir.
This team has also served as the counsel for the family of Alton Sterling, a Black man who was shot and killed by two Baton Rouge police officers outside a convenience store in July 2016.
Additionally, Stewart has represented the families of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, and along with Bamberg, represented the family of Walter Scott, another Black man who was shot and killed by police in North Charleston, SC, in 2015.
