Helen Rose Hastings was an 18-year-old first-year student at Oberlin College and the only daughter of two geneticists. Described by friends as bubbly and compassionate, she was studying art, psychology and neurobiology and hoped to help treat misophonia. Helen, a White woman from Houston who enjoyed cosplay and Dungeons and Dragons, had been living for a couple of months with Mary Anne Oliver-Snow, a 23-year-old TikTok influencer.

On the evening of January 16, 2021, Helen was at a small gathering at Oliver-Snow’s Houston home. While the group was drinking and watching television, Oliver-Snow brought out a handgun an ex-boyfriend had left in the house and, believing it was unloaded, began handling it. The gun fired; Helen was critically injured and later died at a hospital.

Police say Oliver-Snow cooperated, told them she did not know the gun was loaded, and described the shooting as a tragic accident. Oliver-Snow was arrested on January 18, 2021, on a manslaughter charge and released on $20,000 bond the next day. The case attracted widespread attention months later amid social media discussion about Oliver-Snow’s online activity after the shooting. Does anyone who knew Helen or was at that gathering have information that could shed more light on what happened?