On a busy Colorado evening, the life of Senator Faith Winter ended in seconds on a stretch of Interstate 25, leaving a state stunned and a family shattered. The multi-vehicle crash that claimed the 45-year-old lawmaker’s life injured three others and flipped a truck, closing the highway and freezing time for those who loved her. Investigators now face the painstaking work of reconstructing the moments before impact, sifting through debris and testimony to understand what went wrong.

Yet even as the road reopened before midnight, the void Winter leaves behind is impossible to clear. A trailblazing Democrat, transportation and climate champion, and assistant Senate majority leader, she had become a defining voice in Colorado politics. Colleagues mourn a tireless advocate; her children, Tobin and Sienna, and her fiancé, former state Rep. Matt Gray, mourn the woman behind the title. Her unfinished term will be filled. Her absence will not.