Somebody's Special Somebody Part2...R.I.P

"This story is about our sister. Her mother is Lana, her father is Ted, and she is the third born of four girls. Growing up she was always the littlest, the most petite and the pickiest of all four. As a little girl she loved to be with her little sister Christina; they were inseparable growing up.

We lived in Commerce City, CO until she was about 11 years old. We then moved to Arizona, to be in the warm weather. While she was there, she and our mom were the best of friends. She loved to baby-sit for people and loved that she made her own money. She often took our mom and Christina out for lunch.

In April of 1991, they returned to Commerce City to live, as Trisha wanted to go to Adams City High School to attend high school where her mother and older sisters graduated. She started high school in 1991. She loved to go to school; she had a 3.5 or a 4.0 GPA.

While she was in the 10th grade, she got a job working at the Mile High Flea market on weekends, where she continued to work for 3 years. She loved school, her friends, and her family.

After graduation she got a full time job working with me (Kathy) at Continental Book Company in Thornton, Colorado. She worked for Continental Book Company for 1 year, at the same time she held a part time job at Target during the evenings and weekend, just so she could afford her car that she bought essentially on her own.

She met her then-boyfriend Tony, while out cruising. They dated for about 6 months. After they broke up, she found out that she was pregnant with his child. They remained friends throughout her pregnancy and Trystan was born on June 22nd, 1997. Trisha loved her child very much; the day he was born was the best day of her life. She was scared to take care of this little child that was hers, but with help from all of her sisters and mother, she made the best of it.

In approximately August of 1997, she started working at Sound Track where she met Troy. They started dating right away. She loved the idea that Troy just loved her son, and helped her out with the things that she needed for him. It was an off and on relationship from the beginning, they never really lived together until June of 2000.

We only saw him occasionally, at family affairs, Christmas, Trystan’s birthday, etc. When we did see him at those affairs, he was usually drunk or drinking. Trisha’s relationship with him was very shaky to say the least.

On June 1st, 2000 they finally decided to move in together. They thought if they lived together, things for them would get better. Having your own space and learning to get along would get better. They moved into a wonderful apartment in Greenwood Village, Colorado. We never did get to see her apartment until after everything happened, but it was beautiful, everything that she ever wanted. Plus it was hers!

On about June 23rd, 2000, she went to stay with my mom for a week, as her and Troy were not getting along. She had decided to leave him and try to make a life for her and Trystan. She stayed with our mom for one week and then decided to return to her apartment as the trip from Woodland Park, Colorado to Denver was too much to do on a daily basis.

She stayed at the apartment for a couple of weeks, trying to find a place to live; she never did ask any of her sisters if she could move in with them. She wanted to do this on her own.

She spent the 4th of July with me and my family. We had a BBQ and then went to watch fireworks. She never mentioned anything was wrong.

Then on July 15th, Trish, and I decided to go visit our mom in Woodland Park, and our older sister Melody came up later in the day. We spent the evening cooking dinner for our mom and stepdad. Then we watched movies for the rest of the night.

Trish and I left our mom’s about 2:00pm on Sunday the 16th and got back to Denver around 3:30. We went to my house and we sat around talking and then I cooked us dinner and we waited for Trystan to come back from his dad's. I have a cleaning job that I do on the weekends and I had to go do that so around 6:00 p.m., I decided I better go do that, so Trisha and Trystan went home.

The next day at work we got the phone call that all people hate to get. A person from the CBI called my work looking for me. I was unfortunately late for work, but my older sister worked with me and she took the phone call for me. He told us it was an emergency that we needed to come down to the Greenwood Village Police Department. He wouldn’t tell us any more over the phone.

My sister Melody and I then drove down to the Police Department and the police took us into a room and told us that Troy had stabbed my sister to death. She had made a call to 911, and they traced the call and got the address and responded to her call, but by the time they got there she was deceased.

He had stabbed her over 15 times, 2 times in the throat and one time close to her heart, while in the presence of her three-year-old son. The first thing we asked for was Trystan, They told us that since the murder happened at 8:30 or so, they couldn’t locate the family, and he went into temporary foster care. Tony was the only one that could get him out.

After that we asked to see Tony - Trish and he remained friends and we wanted to see how he was doing. Also we wanted to see what he was doing to get Trystan back.

Then the detectives told us we had 15 minutes to decide how our mom was to be told. We told them not to send a police officer, that we didn’t want our mom to be told that way. We had to call her at work and tell her. The police told us to call and get the manager on the phone and ask that she be taken to another room where she had some privacy. When I called, I asked for the manager and got my mom on the phone. I told her to go into another room and take someone with her. When she went to another room and got back on the phone, I told her it was about Trish. She asked "Is she ok?" and the only thing I could say was no. She started crying and gave the phone to her friend; the police officer then took the phone from me.

That was the hardest phone call I have ever made. They did send a police officer, but at least she didn’t have to hear the news from a stranger.

While we were at the police station waiting for our mom to get there, we were essentially locked up, as the press was outside and they didn’t want us to get hounded by them.

The week that followed was the worst week of our lives; we had to plan a funeral for a 23-year-old that should have never died. When you have to plan a funeral for someone that shouldn’t die, you don’t ever know where to start. We didn’t know if she wanted to be buried, cremated, what her favorite flower was or her favorite song was.

We then decided that her mother and sisters wanted to be cremated, so it wouldn’t be fair to leave her here. Everyone, even though they are young, needs to have a will or something written down so that if something horrible happens to them, their loved ones will know what their wishes are.

We did at the time know her favorite color, (purple and green), but we have since learned that her favorite flower is a daisy.

Her son, Trystan has since been placed with his natural father, Tony. They are doing good. Trystan has been in therapy since that fateful night in July and will more than likely stay in therapy the rest of his life.

His dad has since got engaged to his long time girlfriend Sedona, and they are trying to make a wonderful family life for Trystan. I hope he always remembers his mom and the love she had for him. She would have done anything for him.

She was a wonderful mother and enjoyed the time she spent with Trystan. She never went anywhere without him, unless he was with his dad. At first she had a hard time letting Trystan go with his dad every other weekend. She didn’t know what to do without him around. She slowly began to learn that Trystan needed his father just as he needed his mother.

Trisha also enjoyed being around her sisters and mother. I always received a phone call from her at least once or twice a week. She knew how to be a best friend and a sister at the same time. She was loving, caring, smart and a joy to be around. When she got upset, you just had to let her be and she would come around later and act as though nothing ever happened.

Her hobbies were being the manager of the baseball team in high school, reading, drawing, talking to her friends and hanging out with them. She enjoyed the time she got to spend with all her friends; she always kept in touch with all of her high school friends.

The first holidays have been hard to get through; we have just taken it one day at a time. We still have many more firsts for our family. Unfortunately, Trisha’s birthday is still to come and the first birthday for her son without her. We also have the anniversary of her death still to come. We have since started a tradition; each year at Christmas we will donate money to critical response team from Woodland Park, which helps in all domestic situations.

Our mother, Lana and our sister Christina are trying to start a support group up in Woodland Park, Colorado for women. Not just for battered women, but for anyone that needs some support. If you would like to support the group with donations or in any other way, or if you live in the area and need help, please contact Lana at GreenFamily@murdervictims.com.

The man that did all this is now in county jail, awaiting his arraignment. It will more than likely go to trial. The motions hearings have been ongoing and her family will have to testify the day after Christmas. As far as the trial, we will let everyone know the outcome.

UPDATE: The trial for the man that did this to our sister started on May 15th. It lasted until the 30th of May when the jury finally came back with a verdict. The jury got the case on the 29th around noon. The jury found him guilty of 1st degree murder, 2 counts of felony menacing, 1 count of child abuse and 1 count of wire-tapping. Our family can now say, after almost two years of waiting, we have found that there is some justice in this world. Most of the time it just takes a long time."

Source:Victim's Voices.