SACRAMENTO-
Loved ones of Jennifer Twiss are trying to reserve judgement in their grief.
They say what they’ve seen at the place where she died just doesn’t make sense when it comes to what they’ve been told about the Sacramento crash that killed her.
“Jen had a great sense of humor,a love for playing around,” offered one man at a candlelight memorial for Twiss.
With sweet words and signs of love like heart-shaped balloons, friends and family of Twiss are trying to deal with their new reality – days without her.
“She was loved very much. I don’t know what else to say,” her mother Traci said through tears.
Her mother – at a loss after the loss she suffered just after 5a.m. Wednesday.
Her 29-year-old daughter Jen, an avid biker, was hit by a delivery truck near the intersection of Florin-Perkins Road and Okinawa Drive in Sacramento.
Relatives say what they’ve learned from police has only left them with more questions.
“It was a box truck that… he saw her on the shoulder and then she turned in front of him. However, the marks are in the bike lane. the blood evidence, all in the bike lane. So, we really don’t know what happened,” Jill Twiss, Jennifer’s step-mom, said Friday.
What loved ones do know is that Jen, the Christmas baby who was planning a huge masquerade ball for her 30th birthday, was headed to work when the crash took her life.
She loved her job.
“She had called in to let them know she’d be a little bit late. And then when she didn’t show up another co-worker called to let them know the street was blocked off. Two workers left and came down and saw her bike,” said aunt Denise Erlich.
“She came in the morning to do coffee and talk with our customers. That’s what she was hired for and instantly she became friends with everyone in here. And it’s a really big loss for us,” said Jen’s friend and co-worker Alma Jimenez.
Friends at work have set up a coffee pot donation spot in her honor to help her family with expenses.
It’s brewed so much support, it’s overflowed several times since Wednesday.
“A gentleman came who still had the last receipt from the last transaction he had with her. So it just goes to show in just a couple of minutes she could brighten someone’s day,” said Erlich about a man who came to Friday’s vigil.
Police say it doesn’t appear that the driver who killed the budding professional photographer was under the influence of any substance at the time.
Both were traveling southbound on Florin-Perkins when their paths somehow crossed.
“We don’t have answers. We’re just at a standstill right now” said Traci Twiss.
“She’s just a beautiful person. Man…I’m going to miss her forever,” said Jennifer’s uncle Troy Evans.
The Twiss family is hoping to get more answers Monday when the police report on this incident will be released.
