STUDENT PROFILE: UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL
Tragedy touched her life
A.E. Araiza / Staff
Jessica Hiltabidel has taken her hits in roller hockey. Goalie Tom Lackey gets a friendly hit in turn.
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But in true spirit, Jessica Hiltabidel bounced back from the murder of nurse/friend who lent inspiration
By Angela Soto
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
From the beginning, Jessica Hiltabidel's friendship with the woman who inspired her to be a doctor was cut short.
"Right before Thanksgiving in 2000, Amanda (Gerber), a 23-year-old nurse at University Medical Center, went to return a video in the middle of the night," said the 17-year-old, recalling the incident. "Amanda was kidnapped, taken to the desert and shot three times."
Hiltabidel (pronounced, with the first "l" silent, HITA-bidel) said she met Gerber through her aunt.
"My aunt works at UMC and introduced me to Amanda. I would visit Amanda at work and watch the way she was with her patients. She related to them, and she would always smile. To have her life taken away so soon was devastating."
The University High School senior was out of school for a while after the murder.
"I was shut up in my room trying to get over the death. It was the first real tragic death I have been through," she said. "Amanda's death was so unexpected."
Hiltabidel, the oldest of three, has a close bond with her family.
"My mom and dad are my best friends. I can talk to either of them about anything I want," she said. "Whenever something hard happens, or I hit a rut in the road, I can always count on them being there to pull me out."
It was another passion in Hiltabidel's life that helped her through.
Hiltabidel is the only girl on her roller hockey team. She started playing roller hockey when she was 13 years old.
"She has traveled the Southwest and to California playing in tournaments, and in 2000 she made it to the National Finals in Las Vegas," said counselor Mary Ellen Etherton.
"From the very beginning I was one of the only few girls to play," she said. "That's because when you think of hockey, you think bulky guys who sweat, who like to hit each other and get into fights."
The game certainly hasn't come without some bruises.
The worst injury was when she broke some ribs and was in a walking cast for two months. "I love the game. It's a lot of fun," she said, smiling.
She has an internship at University Medical Center where she works in the emergency room. She also is active in her church youth group as a religious education teacher for children and is a National Hispanic Scholar.
She plans to attend Johns Hopkins University and study medicine.
Police arrested John Michael Harper and Frankie Lee Rodriguez for Gerber's murder. Harper was found guilty of first-degree murder March 22. Rodriguez was convicted April 8 of first-degree murder. Both could get the death penalty.
