EVERETT — Something sent Heather Trickler walking along the U.S. 2 trestle Saturday night.
The 15-year-old Lake Stevens girl was found dead Monday afternoon.
An unknown driver fled after striking and killing Heather. Detectives say the driver stopped after hitting the girl and must have known the vehicle hit someone.
Heather’s loved ones are planning a service in her memory, said Kameon Quillen, a spokeswoman for the family. “They are just doing the best they can right now,” she said.
Saddened by the news of the girl’s death, Jessica Ruddock remembered how she once taught Heather to rub lavender on her hands so that they would smell good.
Ruddock, 34, and her family lived next door to Heather for four years, until they moved to Spanaway last summer. Ruddock said she watched Heather, a cute and innocent girl who bought stuffed animals at Ruddock’s garage sale, grow into a teen who struggled.
The eighth-grader hadn’t attended class at Lake Stevens’ Cavalero Mid High School for months.
Heather was fair-skinned with blond hair, Ruddock said. “She was a cute kid, very pretty,” Ruddock said. “She had a very cute smile, when she would smile.”
Heather was friends with Ruddock’s son and often spent time at their house, Ruddock said. “She said my perfume smelled good one time, so I let her use it. She just wanted to be a girl,” she said.
The Snohomish County medical examiner ruled that Heather died after being struck by a vehicle. Investigators believe they know what to look for based on bits and pieces of the vehicle that were picked up along 1,400 feet of the busy freeway.
Washington State Patrol detectives believe Heather was hit by a bluish-green General Motors-brand pickup truck with a canopy, or an SUV. The likely model years are 1994 to 1999. The vehicle likely has damage to the passenger side and the passenger-side head lamp may be missing. The vehicle also may be missing a passenger-side mirror and radio antenna. Anyone who may have seen or heard something that night might be able to help the investigation, trooper Mark Francis said.
Detectives are working hard to catch the hit-and-run driver. “They are getting leads; they are getting phone calls,” Francis said.
The night she died, Heather was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, a black tank top and black-and-white flip-flops. Strung around her neck were chains that held a man’s class ring, two diamond rings, an amulet and a cross.
Ruddock said her family heard of Heather’s death from the girl’s friend.
“This is a sad end to a beautiful girl’s life,” Ruddock said. “It’s sad; it’s a horrible loss.”
Heather hadn’t been to school since February, said Lake Stevens School District spokeswoman Arlene Hulten. School counselors are available to help students deal with grief, she said.
The teen previously attended Sunny Crest elementary and North Lake middle schools, Hulten said.
Heather had some minor brushes with the law, but they were serious enough to wind up in court records.
The girl didn’t fully appreciate the “risky situations that she has placed herself in,” one court document said.
She lived with her father, her stepmother, two older brothers and a friend in Lake Stevens.
She had told a counselor she was close to a younger sister, but the documents don’t say where the girl lived.
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