Yvonne Rabb knew the perils of street life in 1981, back when William H. McNichols Jr. was mayor of Denver.
The day Yvonne died she prepared her sister for what was about to happen to her. She was resigned to her own fate and only wanted to make the shock of her impending death easier for her, said Deborah Rabb, 58, her sister.
Tara-Marie Rabb- Yvonne Rabb
Yvonne told Deborah that a woman who was jealous of her wanted her dead. She was in a toxic love triangle, aggravated by illegal drug ties.
“‘I want you to be strong,’” Deborah said her sister told her. “‘I’m going to be with our heavenly father.’”
That was Yvonne. She was always looking out for other people even when her own life was in jeopardy, Deborah said.
Years earlier, when Deborah had a drug problem, Yvonne took Deborah’s daughter into her home and was raising her. She selflessly helped a lot of people whenever she could.
Yvonne worked at a downtown Denver wig shop and loved to go shopping downtown for the latest styles of clothes.
“When she walked into a room everyone would turn to look. She was that beautiful,” Deborah said.
Yvonne loved music: James Brown, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Isaac Hayes. She would play records and sing and dance. She was well-liked and had lots of close friends.
Tara-Marie Rabb- Yvonne Rabb
Yvonne took good care of her daughter, Tara-Marie Rabb, who was only 5, said Tara-Marie Rabb.
“When I was very young she taught me how to read and write,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better mom. She was just the sweetest person. Everyone loved her.”
There was a darker side to Yvonne’s life, though. She often took Tara-Marie to a baby-sitter and then worked as a prostitute.
Going by different aliases including Diane Thompson and “Buddy,” she picked up Johns in the Five Points area of Denver, according to William Hood, a part-time investigator with the Weld County Sheriff’s Office.
Tara-Marie said her mother worked the streets to survive and to take care of her. As rough as her life was her mother didn’t complain and always had a smile on her face and was upbeat, she said.
On the day Yvonne was killed Deborah spoke to her. Yvonne gave Deborah, her younger sister by only 10 months, a warning about what was going to happen and told her what she expected of her. She was resigned to her own fate.
She and another woman had been seeing the same man and the other woman had threatened her life. Because of her lifestyle she didn’t believe going to police was an option, Deborah said.
Tara-Marie Rabb- Yvonne Rabb
A witness last saw Yvonne Rabb entering an alley in the Five Points area near Big Al’s Bar with two suspects on Nov. 14, 1981, according to a Weld County Sheriff’s Office report.
The witness heard a gunshot in the alley. According to Weld County sheriff’s investigators her murder was possibly tied to drugs.
Yvonne Rabb’s body was found the next day in a ditch near Weld County Roads 8 and 11 just west of Dacono. She had been shot.
“They didn’t have to do her like that,” Deborah said. “Part of me passed with her. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her.”
Tara-Marie wept as she recalled her effervescent mother. She was raised by her grandmother, a nurse.
Shortly before her grandmother’s death in 2007, she asked Tara-Marie to keep in contact with investigators until her mother’s killer was brought to justice.
“No one has the right to take a life in their own hands,” she said.
Contact information: The Weld County Sheriff’s Office can be reached at 970-304-6464. Denver Post reporter Kirk Mitchell at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kmitchellDP