A few weeks ago, Haley Anderson and Josephine Artin went to Target together, chatting, laughing and making jokes. Now Anderson’s friends are remembering her as a larger-than-life person with a warm personality.
Anderson, a fifth-year senior majoring in nursing from Westbury, New York, was found dead on Friday afternoon in a house on Binghamton’s West Side. She was 22.
Police are investigating her death as a homicide.
Anderson worked at Jazzman’s in Glenn G. Bartle Library as a barista for over three years and was on track to graduate in May, according to her friends. She already had a job lined up at an emergency room on Long Island.
Artin, a senior majoring in economics, was Anderson’s housemate. She said Anderson was one of the friendliest people she knew.
“She was the warmest person,” Artin said. “I didn’t know anybody who didn’t like her. Her laugh was contagious — I would always be laughing just because she was laughing.”
Others remember Anderson as a lively, extroverted girl with many interests and passions. Brittany Piket, a first-year graduate student studying accounting, said she has known Anderson since high school and became close friends with her at the end of sophomore year.
“Our rooms were right next to each other, and we always had each other’s backs,” Piket said. “She loved music. We loved to just sit with our friend John and listen to him play the guitar. I had this old PlayStation 2 that the three of us used to play together.”
Piket described Anderson as a beautiful person, a hard worker and a good student.
“She was the personality, you know, she walked into the room and you knew it,” Picket said. “She was beautiful inside and out, a beautiful girl. She had this radiant personality, and you could throw her in a room with strangers and they’d all be best friends within five minutes because that’s just how she was, she just made everything fun. She was silly and goofy and jumped around and had dance parties. But she was also a hard worker. She would study for tests for days and she would do well on them.”
Piket said Anderson cared deeply for other people and would have made a great nurse.
“She wanted to help people,” she said. “She wanted to make people happy, that’s what she always did. She wanted to get out of here and do something, make something of herself.”
Anderson is survived by her mother, Karen Anderson, and her younger sister, Madeline Anderson. Artin said she will remember Anderson as a vibrant person.
“It was tragic and she didn’t deserve that,” Artin said. “But she lived a very, very happy 22 years. She brought joy and light wherever she went.”
Students affected by Anderson’s death can contact the University Counseling Center at (607) 777-2772.