Vashti Brown
Vashti Brown, often called by her middle name, Nicole, by friends, was “lively, energetic, outgoing,” said Antonia M. Armstrong, a former roommate. Her friend had a “big heart” and a big family, she added.
“She’s just very unique and whimsical and I guess that’s why we got along,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong, 31, of Xenia, lived with Brown and other roommates in a house in Dayton until they moved out about two years ago. “We fought like crazy, but we all knew we loved each other,” she said.
Hannah E. Miller, 23, also a former roommate, said Brown was “smart, she was outgoing, she was funny.”
“She was strong, I mean physically strong” and strong-willed and opinionated, she added.
Brown liked to have fun with friends, said Miller, who added her friend ‘was a very good time at a party.”
And professed a love for cats.
“She loved cats,” she said. “She was crazy about cats.”
Both former roommates said Brown had dated Bachmann in a relationship and the two had remained friends.
The deadly freeway accident left Miller angry. Authorities suspected alcohol may have played a role in the deadly crash that also claimed the life of whom law enforcement authorities said was the at-fault driver, 61-year-old James Pohlabeln.
“It’s not fair,” said Miller, who lives in Quincy, Indiana today. “Such bad things happen to such good people. Nicole was a good person and so was Devin and they deserved so much better and I think they deserved to die better. I never realized how much I cared about Nicole until this happened.”
Earl E. Miller
DeShawn K. Weidner, 25, said she met Earl E. Miller in high school and the two had dated for seven years. The two had a daughter together, who is now 2-years-old, Weidner said.
Miller had taught himself to play the guitar after his mother bought him one when he was around 12 years old, said Weidner, of Covington, Ohio.
“Everyone was really glad to hear he was in a band and doing what he love to do,” she said Sunday. “He was a really caring, intelligent person and loved his daughter a lot.
“He was very funny and anyone that he‘s probably ever met he can make laugh,” she added. “I don’t know anyone who has met him who doesn’t like him.”
Miller, a fan of football and NASCAR, lived with fellow band member Kyle Canter in New Carlisle, Weidner said.
“A lot of people are upset,” she said crying. “That’s really hard. I never would have ever imagine having to do this especially not now at this time.”
Devin Bachmann
Anthony D. Roberts said he has just talked to his close friend Devin Bachmann on Friday night.
Roberts woke up Saturday with a telephone call telling him his friend had been killed in a traffic crash on northbound I-75 in Dayton.
“Still kind of processing the shock,” the 27-year-old Beavercreek man said. “… It doesn’t seem real.”
His friend had a knack for raising Roberts’ spirits when he was feeling down, he said.
“He was probably one of the only friends I had that if I was down, he knew exactly what to do and would do whatever it takes to make me feel better,” he said. “He’s a guy that I could call at midnight, one o’clock in the morning if I needed something.”
Bachmann lived his life to the “absolutely fullest,” driven to be the best, Roberts said. Bachmann was always singing, writing songs and listening to music, and wanted to become famous, Roberts said.
“There was no stopping him,” he said. “If he wanted to do something, he was doing it.”
For two years of their more than decade-long friendship, Roberts would stop by Bachmann’s house every day. “We’d hang out and goof off and play video games,” he said. “He was definitely one of my best friends.”
Roberts also knew fellow band members Kyle Canter and Earl E. Miller.
Canter, Roberts said, was the most level-headed and thoughtful one in the heavy metal rock band.
The musician once convinced Roberts to sing karaoke at a tavern, despite Canter’s quiet nature, Roberts said.
“Kyle became a pretty good friend after that,” he said. “He seemed to be very positive all the time.”
Miller, Roberts said, “was goofy in the best way possible. No matter how you were feeling, he could make you laugh, always, every time,” he said emphatically. “It never failed. He could always make you laugh.”
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