PORTSMOUTH, Virginia – Rose Self said she refused to believe that her 19-year-old daughter Natalie Bollinger was murdered.
“I just crumbled,” Self said. “I said (to Natalie’s father) ‘how do you know that it’s her for sure?’ Unfortunately, it could be some other girl. Not our girl!”
Investigators found Bollinger’s body in a wooded area in Adams County on Dec. 29, 2017. She had been shot, the coroner said.
PREVIOUS STORY | Investigation continues into Natalie Bollinger's death
“Felt like my soul, a piece of it, had been ripped from me,” Self said.
She was at her home in Virginia when she got the news she would never see her daughter again.
During her short life, Bollinger lived in both Virginia and Colorado.
“She was a phenomenal artist,” Self said. “She was a great sister, she was a good daughter.”
According to court records, the man who allegedly shot Bollinger told investigators she asked for it and told him she needed help ending her life.
PREVIOUS STORY | Natalie Bollinger's phone, social media lead to arrest in her death
“He didn't have the right to kill her,” Self said. “Anybody would've taken her to the hospital. You don't kill someone.”
“I'm not going to take the word of a murderer,” she added. “I know that this man, he killed my daughter who was 19-years-old and had her whole life ahead of her. Whatever he's saying, he had no right. He had no right to take her life no matter what the circumstances were.”
There is no way for this mother to reconcile what happened.
All she can do at least for now is hope the justice system honors her daughter.
“I need to see justice served,” she said. “I need to see this man pay for what he's done.”
