Exactly 32 years after a Tacoma teenager disappeared, her family and friends gathered to "take back the day."
As a surprise, they delivered a memorial bench to the teen's mother, Pattie Bastian. They want the bench placed in the park that was central to their childhood so that no one here will ever forget their friend.
It has been the story of Pattie Bastian's life.
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"And then there was a knock on the door and the police came in," Bastian said.
That knock came on Aug. 4 1986, the day her vibrant, 13-year-old daughter, Jennifer -- Jenny, she called her -- vanished. She also won't ever forget the day a Tacoma police officer interrupted her painting to deliver the news she had dreaded.
"He took the roller from my hand, helped me down the ladder, sat me down in a chair and said we found her," Bastian said, then paused. "Yeah."
That terrible discovery, along with the murder of another Tacoma teen three months earlier, robbed an entire city of its innocence and forever changed it.
"The impact that this had on our community was incredible," said Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell.
Ramsdell had been on the force just one year. It would be 32 years before DNA would lead investigators to the alleged killers of both teens.
"Regardless of the fact that it's been 32 years, we continued to follow leads on this case and other cases, other cold cases that we have," Ramsdell said, "in an effort to try to bring justice to the families and to our community."
Jennifer's childhood friends, their own lives forever changed in 1986, have helped create a bench in her honor as a surprise to her stoic mother.
"So to be able to give her back something was the best thing out of this whole event," said Dean McGrath, who was a 12-year-old pallbearer at Jennifer's funeral. "And that couldn’t happen without this guy been captured."
Pattie Bastian was asked what solace she can offer others who are still wondering who killed their loved one.
"The only thing I can say to people in that situation," she said, "don't ever give up."
Advanced DNA helped police nab both the alleged killer. Ramsdell said they will continue to use DNA and any other tool they have to bring more killers to justice.