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Published on: 10/29/2007
Last Visited: 11/30/2007
Rebecca Wood, the president of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity at the University of North Carolina, said she and her friends spent more than two hours talking with police about the deaths of the people they met just hours before.
Authorities wanted "descriptions for anything about the people in the house," Wood said."We had just met them that day and didn't have last names for anybody ...But they interviewed everybody that set foot in the house."
Wood said police also wanted to know if the college students were using a grill or a small outdoor fireplace called a chiminea.She told investigators she didn't see anyone using the chiminea, and Smith said investigators had concluded the fire didn't start there.Wood said all the grilling was done far away from the house.
"The smoke was going straight in the air," Wood said.
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"We met them that afternoon," Wood said.
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Wood and a few others from UNC stayed up late dancing and munching on leftover football snacks with their new friends.
"For them to open up their house to us was just so nice," Wood said."We gave them hugs and said we would Facebook later.That's the great thing about the online stuff now , friendships could grow without seeing each other.We got along really well."
Wood left around 1:30 a.m., but Alexander said the lights were still on at the doomed beach house as late as 2:30 a.m.He awoke to the sound of sirens a few minutes after 7 a.m.