DENVER — Beautiful, brilliant and free-spirited – that's how Ana Thallas remembers her daughter, Isabella, who was murdered by a stranger two days after her 21st birthday.
Isabella's death had a profound effect on the city. Hundreds of people gathered to remember her days after the shooting, and a Denver park was renovated in her memory, with a mural painted by a local artist. There's a permanent memorial in the Ballpark neighborhood where she died.
But to Ana, she lost her precious child. Her daughter who loved art and fashion, who desired independence, and moved in with her boyfriend, Darian Simon, a month before they were both shot on June 10, 2020, while walking Darian's dog past an apartment building at West 29th Avenue and Huron Street.
Weeks after Isabella's killer was found guilty, Ana Thallas sat down with 9NEWS to talk about her daughter, the shooting, the trial, and the heartbreak of a mother enduring the unthinkable.
'A lot of life to live'
Ana Thallas gave birth to Isabella when she was 18 years old, just days after graduating from high school. Home life was hard for the family.
"We were kids having kids and trying to make life happen," Ana said. "I was too young to have a child, and he was too young to be married."
"It was hard not having dad in the home," she said. "Isabella seeing certain things, and Lucia [Isabella's sister] seeing and experiencing certain things ... domestic violence."
The trauma shaped Ana's eldest daughter into a free spirit who turned to art and fashion as an outlet – and yearned for a bigger life. Isabella told her mom that she had outgrown Denver and wanted to live in New York or Europe.
"I would say 'Mija, you're only 20. You're 19 years old. You have a lot of life to live," Ana said.
> Below, an extended interview with Ana Thallas:
Isabella was learning about finance at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Ana encouraged her daughter to earn her degree and use it in a career in the fashion industry. But Bella, as she was known, desired independence – in the form of living with her boyfriend, Darian.
Ana said she thought Darian was amazing but she didn't think Isabella was emotionally ready for such a move.
"It's hard to let go," Ana said. "And it was difficult. We begged her to stay home, and she chose love."
About a month after Isabella and Darian moved into together, they took that fateful morning walk.
The shooting
On June 7, 2020, the family had a birthday party for Isabella, who was turning 21, and for her sister Lucia. The two sisters' birthdays were only days apart. Ana said she was grateful to have that day because it was the last time she saw her oldest daughter alive.
On June 10, Lucia texted her and asked where Bella was, saying she heard the news: an active shooter, one injured, one confirmed dead.
"You know. You feel it. I felt it as a mom," Ana said. "The burning sensation. It's like this fire in your heart, throughout your entire body that eats you from the inside out."
She remembered the heat of the day rising from the asphalt as she stood on the other side of crime scene tape near Coors Field and learned the details of what had happened. Darian would never walk the same again. Bella would never take another breath.
"My daughter's dead," she said she remembered thinking. "How did this happen? How is she dead? I just saw her. I just kissed her forehead. I just hugged her. She's gone. What the hell happened to her? Where's my baby?"
"A random person shoots her for no reason 24 times," Ana said. "How do you process that information? You don't. I still can't process that."
The verdict
There's a notion that when a murderer is convicted, it provides a level of closure to the victim's family. Ana said that isn't the case for her.
"No, I never will," she said when asked whether she felt a sense of closure. Her daughter's killer was found guilty in September and will be sentenced on Friday.
"Nothing will ever ease that pain. Nothing will ever take that away from the fact that my daughter is 6 feet underground."
"As time passes, sometimes you find yourself driving down the street, and you don't know where you're going," she said. "You find yourself in the grocery store, and you just look around, and you don't know why you're there."
"I rely on my faith, and you make it to the next day. You do. Tomorrow's a new day, and so you go through the whole day saying, 'I'm going to make it to tomorrow.'"
The aftermath
On this tomorrow, Ana found the strength to visit her daughter's resting place, but emotions didn't rest there. The grief is still raw and the memories are unforgivably vivid.
"One of our last conversations, I texted her and I apologized to her for the divorce between me and my ex-husband," Ana said. "I don't know if it was mommy's fault and I didn't take enough accountability for my actions. Her response was immediate. 'It's OK, Mommy. I forgave you both a long time ago.'"
This is the reality of gun violence in Denver. But Isabella's willful spirit will never again be contained.
"I don't have to worry about her anymore," Ana said. "I don't have to wonder what she's doing, where is she at, is she OK, check up on her. Because I know she's happy."
More 9NEWS coverage of the murder of Isabella Thallas:
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