Denver (AP) – Anne Marie Hochhalter, Columbine High School Shooting However, she has been linked to another family that was destroyed by tragedy, and finds the power to heal and heal her soul. She was 43 years old.
Hochhalter was found at his home outside of Denver on Sunday. Her family suspects she died of natural causes resulting from her injuries in the 1999 shooting, when 12 students and teachers were killed.
An investigation into how she died was moved to the office where autopsies of those killed in Columbine were conducted, the Adams and Bloomfield County Coroner’s Office said.
In 2016, Hochhalter wrote a letter to one of the shooter’s mothers offering her forgiveness by saying, “Bitterness is like swallowing poison.” After skipping a similar event five years ago, I attended an all-nighter to last year’s tragedy 25th anniversary. She said she was filled with happy memories from her childhood and wanted someone who remembered how they lived, not how they died.
Hochhalter has suffered from severe pain from gunshot wounds over the past 25 years. However, her brother said she was tired of her drive to help others to save dogs and family members from people with disabilities.
“She has served so many people,” her brother, Nathan Hochhalter, said Tuesday.
Her own tragedy was exacerbated six months after the shooting, when her mother, Carla Hochhalter, entered the pawnshop and asked her to look at the gun before using it herself.
After his mother’s death, Anne Marie Hochhalter was accepted by another family member who lost their daughter in Columbine.
Sue Townsend, whose stepdaughter, Lauren Townsend, reached out to help Hochhalter as a way to relieve her own pain. Initially, Townsend took Hochhalter to doctor appointments and physical therapy, but their bond began to eat lunch, shop together, and eventually began sharing family dinners and holidays. .
Townsend and her husband, Rick, called Hochhalter “the daughter he acquired.”
On a trip to Hawaii together, Hochhalter, who used a wheelchair, was able to float in a painless lagoon, she said.
“Without Columbine, this relationship would never have happened. So I tried to focus on the gifts that Columbine gave us at Anne Marie, not what it took,” Townsend said. .
In 2016, Sooklebold, the mother of one of the Columbine gunmen. I’ve released my memoir Exploring the causes of my son’s violence and how to prevent future attacks through mental health awareness. Hochhalter said he was grateful that Krebold was donating books to help people with mental illnesses. Hochhalter said her mother was suffering from depression and didn’t think the shooting would directly blame her for her death.
She says she is convinced that Krebold is struggling with what she could do differently, just as she was thinking of ways she could prevent her beloved mother from passing away. I did.
“A once good friend told me, “Bitterness is like swallowing poison and hoping that others will die.” It only harms itself. I’ve forgiven you and I hope for the best of you,” Hochhalter said In a message She posted on Facebook. She also included a photo of the card Sue and Tom Krebold sent her when they recovered in the hospital after the shooting.
Hochhalter attended with his brothers on the 25th anniversary vigil in April. She was not attending the 20th anniversary event due to post-traumatic stress disorder, she said in a social media post last year.
“Since the terrible day of 1999, I have truly been able to heal my soul,” she writes.
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