Afrikka Hardy's Mother: Smile, Laugh Were Contagious

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - The mother of an Aurora teen murdered in Indiana by a suspected serial killer says she's heartbroken over the death of her daughter.

"I still check my phone. I'm still waiting for her call," Lori Townsend said about her daughter, 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy, whose body was found in an Indiana motel room.

The Aurora teen traveled to Chicago this summer to live with relatives. She was murdered last week, police suspect by Darren Deon Vann in an Indiana motel room, after he answered her online ad for an escort. Police said he later led them to the bodies of six other women.

The director of Urban Peak, a nonprofit group that assists teenagers in danger of living on the streets, said she had tried helping Hardy.

"Unfortunately, Afrikka is the face of many," Kendall Rames said. She said Hardy had spent part of her summer at the organization.

"What I remember most about her was her smile," Rames said. "She kind of lit up a room."

Under Urban Peak's guidance last year, more than 100 youths transitioned to safe and stable situations. Unfortunately, Rames said, Hardy as not one of them. She said a lack of resources means not everyone can be saved.

"Our hearts go out to the friends and family of Afrikka. I so wish things would have turned out differently," she said.

Townsend, meanwhile, said she's found a small measure of consolation. Vann's arrest brought closure to six other families.

"That's a way I'm consoling myself," she said, "knowing that her death ended this madness that this man was doing."

She said her daughter's personality was infectious.

"Her smile, her personality, her laugh. It was contagious," Townsend said.

A fundraising effort is helping the family transport Hardy's remains back to Colorado. Donations can be given at Hardy's GoFundMe page.