BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Along a curve of Boulder Canyon Drive on Monday, family and friends of CU Boulder student Megan Trussell gathered in the snow, hugging one another and placing flowers at a pink sign that proudly read, "We love you, Megan!"
"No one else is described the same way she was, so we've already accepted that it is her," her cousin Rebecca Perez told Denver7. "I know they're going to do some more confirmation this week — just double confirm, I guess — but we’ve all pretty much accepted that this is her."
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday afternoon that it is continuing to investigate the case and understands the community is concerned, however "it is too soon to determine what caused the death" or to publicly identify the body.
"I believe that Megan is in a better place," her father Joe Trussell said on Monday at the memorial site. "You know, I’m kind of a spiritual guy. I’ve had signs that she's OK, and that’s making me OK. We're never going to get over it — the grief will last the rest of our lives and we’re different people now and I understand that."
The CU Boulder Police Department first posted online about Megan's disappearance on Feb. 13, saying she was last seen on Feb. 9. The FBI also posted online that it was assisting in the search. The following day, Feb. 14, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a statewide Missing Indigenous Person Alert for Megan.
Nearly a week after she was last seen, on Saturday morning, Boulder park rangers called the sheriff's office to report finding a deceased person above Boulder Canyon Drive, west of the city, in a "hard-to-reach" spot that required rappelling to reach, the sheriff's office said. It's not exactly clear where the body was found.
In the video below, hear from search volunteers dedicated to finding Megan Trussell and the breaking news about the discovery of a body matching her description.
When detectives arrived at the scene, they found a body that matched Megan's description. The whole stretch of Boulder Canyon Drive was closed between Boulder and Nederland during the investigation.
Judy Brocato, a family friend of the Trussell family, told Denver7 on Saturday morning that Megan was not much of a hiker and had left home in "big white platform sneakers" to go out into the cold evening. She added that Megan's sister lives in the Arapahoe Grove area and she believes Megan was heading up there on the evening of Feb. 9. Brocato was one of a few dozen people who gathered for a volunteer search on Saturday morning.
While the Boulder County Coroner’s Office will confirm the identity of the discovered body, as well as the cause and manner of death, Megan's family has already accepted it is her.
"It's been coming in waves and I get really happy to remember the times that I got to spend with Megan, but then as soon as I remember what happened, it just hits me — like, it's awful," Perez said on Monday. "It's an awful feeling that someone should never have to go through."
Along the memorial site set up on Boulder Canyon Drive on Monday, Joe Trussell and Megan's mother stood in front of a crowd, bundled up against the cold, many clutching Squishmallow plush toys — one of Megan's beloved comforts.
Joe Trussell said he had texted Megan and her sister mid-week, but didn't get a response. When he checked her phone data, he saw she had not texted anybody since that Sunday, Feb. 9, which was unusual.
"So we headed straight up here, met with the police and started searching and that was Wednesday, Thursday, Friday," he said. "And then Saturday morning — it's just terror. Everything about this is bad, right? Everything about it is bad, but this is a different kind of bad. This is grief and this is knowing what happened, and that’s so much easier to deal with then not knowing anything."
As a spiritual person, he said he often meditates and was taught to create a place that feels like home in his mind — for him, his parents' kitchen table in Louisiana — and to seek advice from whomever shows up. Late last week, he took some time to meditate and saw Megan sitting next to his mother, who has also passed away.
"I was obviously hurting very badly, and I went to get advice and I went into that 'room' and Megan was sitting next to my mom, and I didn't put her there," he said. "And she was fine. Just hanging out with her grandmother. You can take that any way you want to. I know how I took it. I said, 'She's OK.' And I feel that. I have a very, very strong spiritual connection with Megan."
Now, the best way he can help Megan is to show grace and love to those who have helped in the searches and investigation, he said.
Joe Trussell said he won't speculate on what happened to his daughter, but feels confident that investigators will put the pieces together, even if he wishes the answers came faster.
Megan's family said its fundraising efforts to support the search for the missing young woman will now go toward honoring her memory and helping her grieving family as they prepare for a funeral service.
Perez, who created the fundraiser, confirmed this to Denver7 on Monday, saying the money raised will now go to her immediate family to make sure they are "taken care of and all that during this very, very hard time for us."
Hear more from Megan Trussell's cousin about their efforts to fundraise with the search, and the heartbreak that came with turning it into a memorial fund.
"I believe the biggest thing is just sending love," Perez said. "The GoFundMe is really just to make sure everyone's taken care of during this tough time, making sure everyone gets fed, make sure everyone can get to where they got to go to be with each other. I appreciate the amount of money that is coming through, but obviously no matter how much money, it won't bring her back, and that's the most heartbreaking part of it."
If you would like to support the fundraiser, the GoFundMe can be found here.
A letter sent to the CU Boulder community acknowledges the devastating news and offers resources to help people navigate their grief. Click here for more details on available support.
