Updated: June 15, 2026, at 7:51 p.m.
Mychael Torres, a first-year law student and aspiring public defender, died last month. She was 22.
Torres, who completed her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University in 2023 after arriving in Evanston, Illinois, in 2019 as the school’s youngest admitted student just shy of 16, enrolled at GW Law in fall 2025. Friends who met Torres in classes and through student groups remember her as a humble, kind and electric presence who radiated talent and had a bright future in law as a public defender.
“She was just pure,” Hannah Billings, one of Torres’ friends and classmates said. “She didn’t hide anything, she was who she was. She was also just a wonderful friend.”
In reflecting on Torres’ character, Billings, a 1L law student, recalled a time when she was locked out of her apartment, and Torres insisted on waiting with her for over three hours, eating ramen on the floor until she could get into her apartment.
She said Torres was also a very fun person who could get anyone dancing at clubs or parties, even when the DJ was terrible. She added that Torres would often say, “It’s not that serious,” staying calm under pressure — whether before a big exam or in other stressful situations — and offering a soothing presence to those around her.
She said that in one of their last conversations, Torres was talking about the work she hoped to do in her career, aiming to go into public defense and dedicate herself to helping others.
“She never went to law school for the money or the prestige,” Billings said. “She actually went to law school to make a difference, and she never wavered on that.”
Courtney Torres, Torres’ mother, said her daughter unexpectedly passed away from diabetic ketoacidosis. She said a decade prior to her passing, her daughter founded Aid Through Art, a nonprofit supporting young people navigating housing instability, foster care and the justice system.
Torres said her family has since taken over her daughter’s nonprofit, planning to relaunch the organization sometime this summer.
“She was a truly phenomenal human being,” Torres said in an email.
Anika Joglekar, a 1L student who shared multiple classes with Torres, said Torres quickly opened up as a friend and grew comfortable being “loud” about her beliefs on a wide range of topics, adding that she was “well read” and could discuss anything.
“It’s so funny to me when people describe Mychael as really reserved because pretty quickly as we got to know each other, she loves talking, and she had opinions about everything,” Joglekar said.
Joglekar said Torres was so mature that she was surprised to learn Torres was only 21, which led to conversations about teenage experiences — like high-school prom — that Torres would jokingly remind her she had experienced at just 13.
Torres was an academically gifted person, starting school at a very young age, entering first grade at age 4 and completing fifth grade by the time she was 7, according to her obituary. She started high school when she was 10, and after moving around to different schools, graduated from Fremont Ross High School in Fremont, Ohio, in 2019, in the top 5 percent of her class, according to her obituary.
In high school, Torres was the captain of her school’s Junior Reserves Officers’ Training Corps, participated in student theater — performing as the Godmother in Cinderella one year — and was a vocalist for the school’s concert and performance choirs, according to her obituary.
Torres was a part of numerous groups throughout her time at Northwestern, including the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and was the community relations chair for the school’s student government. She was also the president of an a cappella group and Northwestern’s Black Student Alliance, according to her obituary.
Joglekar said Torres had solid legal experience before coming to GW Law, having worked with the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office in California for two years before starting her studies in D.C. In California, Torres worked as a Clean Slate Program Fellow, interacting with people who have had contact with the criminal system and helping clean their criminal record to reduce barriers to employment and other services, however Joglekar said Torres’ colleagues “didn’t know” she was only 19 when she started there.
“It was like, oh, right, I forgot that you’re just so measured,” Joglekar said.
She said Torres secured a summer internship with the Alexandria Public Defender’s Office in October, something she said some law students haven’t achieved even by the end of March.
Joglekar said Torres was also humble in her personal life, not publicizing her achievements, like her participation in GW Law Cappella, too much. She said one time when Torres performed with her a cappella group, Joglekar filmed the performance as if she were “the mom from ‘Mean Girls.’”
She said Torres also loves to bake, asking a few days before she passed what Joglekar’s favorite muffins were, so she could practice baking them before Joglekar’s birthday.
Joglekar said she takes comfort in knowing that she was the same caring person to everybody in her life. She said as she’s met more of her friends and family since Torres’ passing, she’s heard a “similar narrative” about Torres.
“She was really understated in a lot of ways,” Joglekar said. “She liked to be home alone with her cat and crocheting and was very chill. So it’s amazing the extent of what her presence was and how it shifted things and how just funny and light she was.”
Emily Talvacchia, a 1L law student, said she first met Torres when they both auditioned for GW Law Cappella and mostly got closer over hours of rehearsals this spring semester.
Talvacchia said before the first performance she had with GW Law Cappella, she was “very nervous,” but Torres, who had performed during her time at Northwestern University, had a “confident, calm energy” to her and held Talvacchia’s hands to calm her down.
“I consider this world to be very harsh and very dark,” Talvacchia said. “But she just had this light about her that was just really such a pleasure. To be in the same room as her and to hear her laugh, like she had the best laugh ever.”
Talvacchia said a cappella practices are odd without Torres, adding that the loss is upsetting too because she would’ve gone on to do “so many amazing things.”
“People say that about young people, but she genuinely had this path that she was on and that she would have just done so much good,” Talvacchia said.
Gabriella Trotman, a 1L student, said she was a “joyful and genuinely kind” presence in the law school’s community. She said there were days when Torres’ words were the “only light” she experienced, making Trotman grateful for having Torres in her life, even if it was for just a short period.
“Her passing is a devastating loss not only to the GW Law community, but to the world- because it was clear she was going to do great things for others,” Trotman said in an email.
Torres is survived by her parents and two siblings, her sister and brother, according to Joglekar.
Editor’s Note: If any family members, friends or colleagues of Mychael Torres would like to provide further comment for the story, email The Hatchet at [email protected].
This post was updated to correct the following:
A previous version of this post said Torres secured an internship with the Arlington Public Defenders Office. Her internship was set to be with the Alexandria Public Defenders Office. We regret this error.
This post has also been updated to include comment from Torres’ mother.
