Driver gets prison time for DWI crash that killed fellow UNC-Chapel Hill student
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Driver pleaded guilty to felony death by vehicle and speeding; sentenced 38–58 months.
- Investigation found excessive speed, high BAC of 0.15, and alcohol at multiple bars.
- Court recommended mental health, substance-abuse treatment and work-release placement.
A UNC student was sentenced to nearly five years in prison after she pleaded guilty to causing the death of a fellow student in a speed- and alcohol-related crash last year in Chapel Hill.
Flemeeja Beatrice Brewer, 21, pleaded guilty to felony death by vehicle and speeding in an emotional Orange County Superior Court hearing Thursday about the Jan. 21, 2024, crash that killed UNC sophomore Mary Elizabeth Rotunda, 20, of Greensboro.
Another passenger in the car, Greensboro resident Brianna Pinson, was injured.
Superior Court Judge Tonia Cutchin sentenced Brewer to 38 to 58 months in prison. Brewer had also faced an involuntary manslaughter charge and several misdemeanors, but those charges were dismissed as part of her plea bargain, court records show.
The court recommended that she also undergo mental health and substance-abuse treatment and get into a work-release program.
Brewer is being held in the Orange County Detention Center while awaiting her transfer to an N.C. Department of Adult Corrections facility, Orange County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Alicia Stemper said.
Families knew each other, wanted quick trial
Brewer’s case had been scheduled for January, but her attorney asked the judge this week to wrap up the case.
That’s not “completely unusual,” Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jeff Nieman said Friday. Rotunda’s father had also expressed interest in getting the hearing done before the holidays, because it had been “weighing on him a lot and the whole family,” he said.
Both Rotunda’s father and Brewer spoke before the judge made her decision, Nieman said.
“It was very emotional,” he said. Brewer “had to stop about halfway through and took about a two- to three-minute break to compose herself and got back up and finished it. She described Molly as her best friend, and I’m pretty sure that’s true that they’ve been friends since high school, because even the father of the victim talked about how they’ve known this family for many years.”
Brewer’s attorneys had asked for supervised probation, but Assistant District Attorney Maren Hardin argued strongly for an active prison sentence, Nieman said. The judge had limited options under the state’s structured sentencing guidelines, and “paused for a very long time” before acknowledging the gravity of the situation and issuing her judgment, he said.
“There were a lot of dumbfounded people in that courtroom who did not expect that,” Nieman said. “It was a terrible case, but ... the defendant had done a lot of remedial things since this happened, and she had a lot of people vouching for her good character, and she was and is a very young person. For the record, I am satisfied that this is a just outcome.”
Investigation finds alcohol, fake ID
Several others involved in the crash and the night of drinking that led to it, including three UNC football players, pleaded guilty or had their cases dismissed earlier this year. Four Franklin Street bar employees also had their cases dismissed, records show.
Pinson, who was not a UNC student, still faces two counts of aiding the purchase of alcohol by an underage person, records show. She was the only person involved in the crash who was not underage, records show.
A police investigation showed several people, including Brewer, had been drinking at multiple bars in Chapel Hill before the crash, near the intersection of N.C. 54 and Barbee Chapel Road.
Among them was then-UNC football player Zachary Rice, who celebrated his 20th birthday that night, and former UNC football players Malaki Hamrick and Travis Shaw.
A criminal summons filed in 2024 suggested Rice may have been driving behind Brewer’s car, but police have not said whether they were racing at the time. Nieman said there wasn’t enough evidence to answer that question.
Police found a fake Texas driver’s license with Brewer’s name and photo at the scene, stating she was over 21 years old, according to search warrants. A half-full bottle of Crown Royal whiskey was found on the road, warrants said.
Brewer was driving about 124 mph in the 45 mph zone when she ran off the right side of the road around 2:23 a.m., a police report said. The car hit a street sign and several small trees before rolling and landing on its roof in the grass, the report said. All three women were wearing seatbelts when the car crashed, Nieman said.
Reports show Rotunda joined Brewer and Pinson at a bar shortly before they left Chapel Hill that night.
Rotunda was the youngest of five children, four of whom had graduated college and started their own families. Her obituary listed “countless accolades,” including her service as a youth leader at Christ United Methodist Church in Greensboro, where she was in the choir, youth group and joined annual mission trips to South Carolina.
The Grimsley High School graduate had played recreational, club and high school soccer, serving as captain of Grimsley’s varsity team, and was also a longtime swim team member and coach. At UNC, she was studying human development and family science.
“Molly was truly defined by her energy, playfulness, and optimism that inspired others to live their lives to the fullest,” it said, also noting her love of painting, cheering for the Tar Heels, shopping and music, and spending time with her parents.
Rotunda likely was also the most sober person that night, Nieman said. An autopsy showed she had a blood-alcohol content of just 0.02. Brewer, on the other hand, had a 0.15 blood-alcohol level — nearly twice the state’s limit for impairment — he said.
ALE officers filed reports with the ABC Commission after completing their investigation, court records show. State records show that the Chapel Hill bar Still Life renewed its ABC permits in April. Permits for Might as Well bar were canceled in May, and a new manager received replacement permits in June.
Public awareness of cases like this is very important, Nieman said.
“Multiple times, the defense talked about how terrible things can happen from a momentary lapse of judgment, and that is true, but this was more than a momentary lapse of judgment. This was a series of bad decisions made over the course of a night that led to this,” he said.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 4:50 PM.
