(AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)
The tears welled up as Laura Murphy reached for her phone to retrieve a text message she has preserved for nearly four years. It was sent from the phone of her son's friend, time-stamped a little before 1 a.m. on July 20, 2012, and accompanied by a pair of missed calls.
"My phone was off, and it's never off when I'm away from my kids. I don't know how it happened," said Laura, who had celebrated her birthday early with her husband, Ken, in Beaver Creek that weekend to ensure she could take her son to a football camp a couple weeks later.