'Feels like it was yesterday': Family remembers fallen police sergeant one year after her shocking murder

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. - A community is remembering a fallen police sergeant one year after her shocking murder.

In the very same place where Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic was killed last year, her family and friends came together Thursday night in her memory.   

The ‘Blue Light Vigil,’ as it was called, began at 9:30 p.m. – minutes before Rittmanic and her partner answered a call last December that would change their lives forever.

Rittmanic, 49, and her partner, Tyler Bailey, who was 27 years old at the time, were ambushed last December while responding to a noise complaint at the Comfort Inn & Suites on Illinois Route 50 in Bourbonnais.  

Rittmanic was shot and killed. She would have turned 50 years old in October and was a 21-year law enforcement veteran.

Bailey was also struck that night but survived. He was critically injured and has undergone months of treatment and physical therapy – only being released from a rehab facility last month.

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Thursday night, loved ones of both Rittmanic and Bailey lit blue candles.

Rittmanic's niece said it was a difficult decision to hold the vigil at the same location where her aunt was killed but tells FOX 32 Chicago she is hoping it can become a place of remembrance instead of pain.

"Still a lot of healing to go, still feels very raw. A year’s gone by, but it still feels like it was yesterday," said Jennifer Whitaker, Rittmanic’s niece.

Whitaker said her aunt was a pillar of strength, she was kind, and lived by example.

"We like to call her our Wonder Woman, our hero. You’ll see a lot of her shirts have the Wonder Woman emblem on them. She was a beautiful soul, kind, she was so committed to her family and to her profession, to the community," said Whitaker.

Several people have been charged in connection with Rittmanic’s murder and Bailey’s attempted murder – including Darius Sullivan and Xandria Harris – and are awaiting trial.