ROANOKE, Va.- – A mother's emotional warning after her daughter is found dead in a dumpster on the other side of the country as Las Vegas detectives are working to find Tess Henry's killer.
The 28-year-old was born and raised in Roanoke, was a graduate of Cave Spring High School and attended Virginia Tech and UNC in Asheville, North Carolina.
But an addiction to opioids led her to Las Vegas. There she spent weeks in a rehab clinic, but on Mother's Day of this year she called her mom and said she had walked out and was back on the street.
Just before her body was found on Christmas Eve, the family was making arrangements for several weeks to bring her home to Roanoke.
Now her mother is speaking out and warning about the dangers of opioid addiction.
Patricia Mehrmann comforts herself by remembering and looking at pictures of her daughter at all stages from her young life. Her mother says she was a shining light in the family and the middle child of four children.
Henry struggled with an opioid addiction for almost five years starting with prescription cough medicine. Mehrmann says she wanted to get better.
"I kept saying, 'Tess, we want you home and we love you.' She said, "Don't worry, I'm coming mom, don't worry,' said Mehrmann.
Henry went to Las Vegas in February for treatment but left before she completed the rehab program. On Christmas Eve, her body was found burned in an apartment complex dumpster.
For several years, Mehrmann has been an advocate, speaking about the dangers of addiction and the need for funding for better treatments.
"This is a disease. This is chronic and long-term disease and the biggest problem is it has always been viewed as something we can treat short-term and we can't. I don't think there is any magic solution yet that I know of," said Mehrmann.
And until a solution is found, Merhrmann says, she will remember her daughter as a woman full of life. She leaves behind a young son she loved dearly.
"Not only was she so magnificently beautiful in her face and her smile but she just had a way she made everyone around her so blessed and so happy," said Mehrmann
The last time Mehrmann heard from her daughter was by text message three days before Christmas