GREELEY, Colo. — Outside the NoCo Nutrition smoothie store in Greeley, family and friends continue adding to a growing memorial of flowers and photos for a 22-year-old who was attacked and killed as she worked a closing shift Friday night.
Photos of Angie Vega beam into the store parking lot and at a second makeshift memorial at the gas station where officers found her body late Friday.
Working at the store owned by her aunt and uncle was Vega's first "real" job, her mom Virginia Barragin said Monday.
"She looked forward every day to coming in and doing her job," Barragin said.
She spread joy through her work as well, Barragin said. The store had a policy of writing inspiring and encouraging notes on the cup of every smoothie they sold. Vega embraced the chance to share joy, her mom said.
“She loved that it was her handwriting on that cup that made people smile,” she said. “She would get a lot of comments from people saying 'this is exactly the one I needed today.'”
“She would just pop in my office to take me a drink and the quote that was in that cup for that day was exactly what I needed,” Barragin said. “So I know exactly how a lot of the clients from here felt, because we all got those quotes.”
When she tried a new type of food – particularly pasta – Vega would wriggle her body with joy at the first bite, her mother recalled. She loved sunflowers and dancing.
Vega lived with her mother, brother Angel Diaz and sister Alyzsa Vega. Together they were all saving to buy a home of their own, Barragin said.
"For me, my sister was an inspiration," Diaz said. "She was always nice to everybody. I don't know how, but even if you could make her the maddest person in the world, a couple minutes later it would be like it never happened."
Looking out over the memorial of flowers outside the smoothie store, Barragin said Vega would love to see the outpouring of support.
“She always loved bringing people together,” she said. “But it’s really hard for me to have people come together this way.”
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