Grieving Mother Visits Apartment Building Where Daughter Died

By Jeff Todd

DENVER (CBS4) - Michele Weir said she needed to return to the apartment building where her daughter was murdered so she could find closure.

"The past couple days have been awful," Michele said. "My life is changed forever."

Cristina Weir was stabbed to death the morning of July 31 in her apartment near 25th Street and Glenarm Place. The attack seemed to be random. A suspect was arrested in Cristina's car in early August.

For the first time, Michele has traveled from her home in Virginia to Denver.

"In my fog, I felt as though that's where I would find her. I went into the apartment wanting to know her last hour, her last minute, her last seconds. In going back to the apartment, I feel like I satisfied that need," Michele said.

Michele says this is just the first of many trips from the East Coast back to Denver. She plans on attending as many court hearings for the suspect -- Esstefan Hamlin -- as possible.

But she says the visit to Cristina's apartment hasn't been the only step to easing the grief. She's been inundated with support from people who knew Cristina as a kind, caring, and compassionate woman.

"I'm leaving in a much better space than I came. I cried the entire flight here, as you can imagine. This is a new reality, and the sooner I accept it and can navigate it without my daughter, the better for everybody," Michele said.

Weir's friends and family are raising money so they can establish a scholarship fund. You can donate here.

Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.