CNN
—
Sue and Rick Townsend first met Anne Marie Hochhalter in March 2000 at a Bruce Springsteen benefit concert in Denver for Columbine High School shooting victims.
Anne Marie used a wheelchair after being left partially paralyzed by two gunshot wounds in the April 20, 1999, attack, when two students opened fire at the school, killing 13 and wounding 23 before taking their own lives.
The Townsends, whose 18-year-old daughter Lauren was killed in the shooting, introduced themselves to her at the event.
“We just saw her and went up and talked to her for a little bit,” Rick told CNN. “She was very shy at the time.”
That encounter would blossom into a lifelong bond.
After retiring in May 2000, Sue began taking Anne Marie to physical therapy appointments, and afterward, they would go shopping or to the movies and enjoy lunch and ice cream together.
Anne Marie — who had lost her mother to suicide six months after the Columbine massacre — began joining the Townsends for family dinners, holidays, vacations and birthdays.
“She became part of our family,” said Sue, who was Lauren’s stepmother.
The Townsends said they called authorities to do a welfare check on Anne Marie in February when she didn’t respond to their texts or calls to confirm a weekend lunch date. That’s when police found Anne Marie dead in her home in Westminster, Colorado.
The 43-year-old died on February 16 from sepsis, with complications from her paralysis being a “significant contributing factor” in her death, according to an autopsy by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.
“The manner of death is best classified as homicide,” the autopsy report said. Anne Marie’s death increased the Columbine shooting’s death toll to 14.
The loss has brought yet another heartbreak for the Townsend family, stemming from the mass shooting that devastated this suburban Denver community 26 years ago.
Sue said that although she didn’t see Anne Marie as a replacement for Lauren, their relationship helped her heal from the grief.
“She needed us, and we needed her, so it worked out,” Sue said.
Anne Marie and Lauren did not know each other in high school. The family called Anne Marie their “acquired daughter,” Sue said.
“We looked at her as a gift, kind of a bonus that came out of the tragedy of Columbine,” Sue said. “We just enjoyed her.”
Anne Marie suffered from chronic pain due to the gunshot wounds, Sue said.
She underwent various surgeries and endured complications from using a wheelchair and taking medications for most of her life.
Still, Anne Marie never allowed those challenges to stop her from living a full life, Sue said.
Anne Marie graduated from college, drove a car, worked as an assistant manager at Bath & Body Works, volunteered at a golden retriever rescue shelter because she loved dogs, and became an advocate for people with spinal cord injuries and chronic pain, Sue said.
Sue and Rick said Anne Marie accepted that she would likely never walk again and focused her energy on what her physical limitations would allow.
“She refused to be seen as a victim,” Sue said. “She would say, ‘I can do anything you can do, it just takes me longer.’”
Sue said Anne Marie’s complications had started to worsen in the years leading up to her death.
She began expanding her online presence, connecting with people through social media groups who were suffering from similar health issues, Sue said.
Late last year, Anne Marie developed a pressure ulcer, a common skin complication for people who use wheelchairs, and was scheduled to have it treated the week she passed away. Sue said the pressure ulcer was what led to the sepsis.
“It was a shock,” Sue said. “She had been through so much before and we just assumed this would be taken care of as well. We just were stunned.”
The Townsends said Anne Marie’s death, along with the media attention it received, has forced them to relive the Columbine tragedy.
It feels like “we lost our youngest twice,” Rick said, given the couple’s other children are all older than Anne Marie and Lauren.
But they find comfort in their memories of the two women.
They described Lauren as an “old soul” and “everybody’s best friend,” who was the valedictorian of her class at Columbine and dreamed of going to college to study wildlife biology.
She was also quirky, just like Anne Marie, Sue said. “They were just fun to be around.”
The Townsends say they remain determined to keep Lauren’s and Anne Marie’s legacies alive.
They hope that sharing the story of their relationship with Anne Marie and her advocacy for people with chronic health issues will inspire others to form positive, caring connections.
“I hope this reminds people that goodness wins,” Sue said.
