The parents of a teen slain in Laramie said after a Thursday night vigil that they would miss their daughter’s daily phone calls from college.
“Now, I’m not going to have that anymore,” said Steven Carlson, father of 19-year-old Amber Carlson, a University of Wyoming sophomore. “We’re going to have a big hole in our hearts that will never go away.”
Amber Carlson was found dead early Sunday in an off-campus house, along with two other students, shocking the Laramie community.
Her mother, Julie, said her daughter would sometimes call six times a day to fill her proud parents in on her life.
The teen’s friends, speaking to a circle that had gathered on a lawn outside John F. Kennedy High School – Amber Carlson’s alma mater – described a huggable girl who was shy and quiet until she went off to college.
There, at UW, she blossomed.
Her first night there, she and her roommate introduced themselves to everyone in their dormitory. Their door was open, and Carlson’s shell was broken ever since.
One night in the dorm lobby, “we pushed all of the couches against the wall and started dancing,” said her 19-year-old roommate, Kristin Kissell. “Amber busted out this move that I will never forget. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, what are you doing, Amber?”‘
The story drew laughter from the somber crowd.
Amber’s sister, 22-year-old Jena Carlson, recalled the 180-degree turn in her sister’s timid personality.
“All her life, I was always outgoing and she always stayed home,” she said. “She always hated rap music, then she comes back from college with three Eminem CDs.
“She became her own – she discovered herself.”
Police still haven’t figured out a motive for Amber’s slaying and said Thursday that the crimes may remain a mystery.
“As far as any chronology and the motive, we may never know,” said Laramie police spokesman Dale Stalder, adding that four Laramie investigators will continue to work the case until they answer as many questions as they can. “We have a professional responsibility … to try and answer all the questions that lie out there.”
After a party early Sunday, Justin Geiger, 20, shot and killed Carlson and stabbed to death Adam Towler, 20, of Laramie before turning the gun on himself, police said. Anthony Klochak, 19, survived the attack with stab wounds.
Carlson’s kin said they don’t blame the Laramie community or the university. It could have happened anywhere, they said, and Amber loved the town.
Going to Laramie “was the best thing she ever did, even though all that happened,” Julie Carlson said. “She was happy, and not too many kids can say that.”
Staff writer Brandon Lowrey can be reached at 303-820-1201 or blowrey@denverpost.com.
