BU Mourns 'Smart' And 'Exciting' Student Killed In Murder-Suicide

BOSTON (CBS) - Erin Edwards was a force at Boston University, according to everyone who speaks about her.

Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore knew her well. "Erin was that person who walked into the room and you'd ask yourself, 'Who is that?'"

The BU community was hit hard by news that Edwards's body was discovered shot to death in her suburban Atlanta home Wednesday, alongside her 24-year-old brother and their mother. Police say Marsha Edwards likely killed her son and daughter before committing suicide.

Neighbors said there were no signs of trouble. "You just don't know what's going on in people's lives. You don't know who is happy and who isn't happy," said Rebecca Cartall, who lives next door.

On Marsha Edwards's Instagram account, she posted photos of herself with 20-year-old Erin on vacation together in Italy. The post is dated the same day police made the discovery. "I could not ask for better children," she wrote.

"She had an incredible presence and she had a way about her that would just bring people together," said Elmore. "She was smart. She was exciting."

Edwards is featured at the center of an artistic photo spread in a magazine she worked with called Charcoal. She had a prestigious scholarship and a radio show; she worked with BU-TV10 and the student newspaper. She had wrapped up a summer internship at a New York television station and was due back on campus Wednesday to help lead a community volunteer group, the same day police found her.

"If I could look to the future I would've expected that Erin would've been on that television show, she would've been the host," said Elmore. "Hey, maybe even the president."