Police tried their best to get a description of the car, later identified as a black 2007 Kia Rio. Various people who knew Rodrigue were contacted, as were friends and family, who said he was contemplating suicide.

"He snapped, he just wasn’t him," Kathleen Rodrigue said. "I just found out today that Thursday morning he was talking out of his head."

As officers talked with Kathleen Rodrigue they received a call from another relative who had spotted the pair in the Kia. Officers sped to Modessa, between Donaldsonville and New Castle, where the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office was in pursuit of the car.

Rodrigue, Anysia Preyan said, was talking of killing himself and her because he had nothing left. Suddenly she found herself playing both victim and comforter.

"I was trying to calm him down, to let him know that’s not going to happen," Anysia Preyan said. "I was scared and I wasn’t happy about what he did, but I didn’t want to see him kill himself."

Police said Rodrigue was running other cars off the road and just after 3 p.m. was driving up a Mississippi River levee. That was when Anysia Preyan said she was certain her life would end, so she jumped

Once Anysia Preyan was out of the car, she ran toward a stopped police car. Meanwhile, Rodrigue jumped out of the car, too, and into the cold river water.

Police officers negotiated briefly, and Rodrigue gave himself up.

He was ticketed at the Ascension Parish jail for resisting arrest, then returned to Thibodaux to be processed by University Police before being turned over to the Lafourche Parish jail.

"He needs help, it is my fault that I never did seek help for him," said Rodrigue’s mother. "Tremayne needs help to get his life together."

Told of the distraught mother’s words, Anysia Preyan showed sympathy.

"She shouldn’t blame herself," said Anysia Preyan, who spoke of spending a quiet weekend with relatives before returning to school and her apartment on Monday, while her own mother, Louise, marveled that she ended up safe.

"I have been praying and just thanking the Lord," Louise Preyan said.

Nicholls President Stephen Hulbert praised police for their quick response and for the safe ending.

"We are grateful for the return of the student and will make counseling services available to her," he said. "The safety of Nicholls students is our primary concern, and our police officers worked quickly, with that goal in mind."