Dannielle Brandt died after doing what she loved most — spending time with animals.

The 19-year-old veterinary medicine sophomore spent Friday night walking with a cow she planned to show in a competition the next day. As she walked across Mount Hope Road wearing dark clothing at about 10:20 p.m. after leaving the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education, she was struck by a car and killed instantly, her mother, Debbie Brandt, said.

It was pronounced a fatal accident at the scene, Meridian Township police Sgt. Paul Rambo said.

Police have not yet determined who was at fault or if alcohol was a factor in the collision, Rambo said.

"It's an open investigation - that's what they're doing right now, completing the investigation," he said.

It was typical of Dannielle — who loved chocolate milk and cheeseburgers — to be out with an animal on a Friday night, Debbie Brandt said.

"(Her friends) went to sorority parties on Friday nights and she went to the barn to be with her cows," Debbie Brandt said. "That's how she was.

"She loved animals."

April Fredell, Dannielle's roommate of two years, said she was an "amazing person."

"I never knew a person who was so nice and so kind — who would go out of her way to do something for you," the hospitality business sophomore said.

Dannielle, a native of South Boardman, Mich., adopted an abused husky dog that spent the first two years of its life on a two-foot chain and brought home animals when she worked at an animal shelter, Debbie Brandt said.

"It was very hard for her to see abused animals," she said. "She would get very mad at the owners."

Her friends and family said Dannielle was dedicated to becoming a veterinarian.

"She pretty much spent all of her time with animals," Fredell said. "She didn't go out much, but she studied all the time because she was so dedicated to getting her degree and working with animals."

Through her involvement in dog shows, Dannielle met someone who decided to pay for her schooling through veterinary school in a private endowment, Debbie Brandt said.

"They saw a love of animals in her," she said. "They took us out to dinner and told her they would pay for college because she loved animals and was such a good person.

"She had a good heart."

Nick Downey, Dannielle's boyfriend, said she often studied instead of partied when he visited on weekends.

"I know she wanted to do good in school, but it almost seemed like she was doing it not only for herself, but for everybody else," Downey said. "She wanted to make everybody proud."

Downey said the couple would have celebrated their nine-month anniversary on Tuesday.

"The most time we ever spent apart was three weeks," said Downey, who attends Northwestern Michigan College. "Every once in a while, we would take a weekend off from seeing each other, but normally she came up or I went down there."

Dannielle once rescued a sheep and raised it for a show, then realized the sheep was being auctioned off to sell to a grocery store and paid $700 to get it back, Downey said.

"She's really kind and caring," he said. "She's wanted to be a vet since forever and was always taking in animals."

Though Debbie Brandt said Dannielle "kind of loved animals more than people," Fredell said the two talked every night before going to sleep and never fought.

"We didn't get into one fight our freshman year," she said. "Everything I didn't do, she did, and everything she didn't do, I did. We just complemented each other."

Dannielle spent every night last week working with her cow to prepare it for Saturday's competition.

"She didn't have much patience for people, but she really had a touch for animals," Debbie Brandt said. "She would've been a great vet."

Funeral services will be held Thursday at the Wolfe Funeral Home in Kalkaska, Mich. Debbie Brandt requests that those interested call the funeral home at (231) 258-5121 for more details.