AURORA, Colo. — Katherin Plata said her aunt, 59-year-old Leticia Plata, could light up any room with her kindness and positivity.
"She was someone who, no matter what happened to her, she always had a smile on her face, and she had that energy that got you smiling too," Katherin Plata said.
Katherin said the memories she made with her over the years are all she has left now.
"Whoever did this took someone who was completely innocent away from us," she said.
Plata said on the morning of Jan. 27, her aunt was walking near the bus station on Peoria and 17th in Aurora when a driver hit and killed her before taking off.
"To know what kind of person she was and just to imagine her last moments by herself laying there, her last breath with no one to hold her hand or comfort her, it's really hard to accept why," she said.
She said her aunt was hit just down the street from the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and said it hurts even more to know that her aunt may have still been alive if this person stopped to help.
As the search continues for the driver, family members said they'll keep their aunt's memory alive and ask anyone with information to contact Aurora police at 303-627-3100.