Butler native Caitlyn Kaufman called her mother, Diane, daily while working and living in Nashville, Tenn.

The night Caitlyn was murdered — over two years ago — was no different.

“I spoke to her that night,” said Diane, a resident of Chicora. “I was on the phone with her right before the shooting happened.”

Caitlyn and her mother shared “a special bond,” Diane said, and would sometimes call up to eight times a day. During their last call, Caitlyn was on her way to work as an intensive care nurse at St. Thomas West Hospital.

“It was our normal conversation: I was talking to her about, you know, how the morning was, her night before,” Diane said. “We talked about the weather. I know it was raining that night — it was a thunderstorm.”

Diane said she had planned a trip the following week to visit Caitlyn and see her new apartment just outside the city.

“We were talking about what we were going to do whenever I came down the following week,” Diane said, “because that would have been the first time that I actually saw her apartment with all of her things in it.”

And while Diane said she had met many of Caitlyn’s friends over video calls, she was especially looking forward to finally meeting them in person.

“And then, I had to get off the phone because I was going to get a Christmas card, which was actually for her,” Diane said. “Whenever I called her back, there was no answer, and that’s when she was shot.”

Caitlyn was fatally shot Dec. 3, 2020, by DeVaunte Hill in a road rage incident on Interstate 440.

Hill recently was convicted of second-degree murder and imprisoned for a maximum sentence of 25 years. James Cowan, driver of the vehicle from which Hill fired six shots, was acquitted.

While Diane and her husband, Rick, have spent the last two years embroiled in the ongoing court case, the proceedings only have highlighted their daughter’s impeccable character.

“Caitlyn was a very loyal person; she was a true person,” Diane said. “I swear — I swear — that she tells me every day to forgive them, because she is the type of person that always forgave people. Even when people weren’t worthy of her forgiveness, she forgave them.

“And people could learn from her in that regard, because that’s who she was.”

Diane and Rick remember their daughter as “very driven.”

“In high school she was a diver, she was on the dive team,” Diane said. “She was involved in cheerleading throughout high school, she was in chorus in high school, she took AP classes.”

After graduating from Butler Area High School in 2012, Caitlyn studied at Clarion University.

“She dual-majored at Clarion,” Diane said. “She received her certification for athletic training, and she also received her Bachelor of Science.”

Caitlyn made the university’s dean’s list every semester that she attended.

“And then she shifted gears and decided that she would go and be a nurse,” Diane said. “After she graduated Clarion, then she came back to (Butler County Community College) to get her associate degree in nursing.”

According to Diane, Caitlyn decided to pursue nursing halfway through her time at Clarion.

“I think, years ago, when her brother was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, I think that triggered something in Caitlyn at that point,” Diane said. “She was always a very nurturing person.”

Caitlyn and her brother, Tyler, shared a close bond, Diane said, and his diagnosis influenced her decision to study nursing at BC3.

While studying, Diane said Caitlyn also worked as a patient care technician at Butler Memorial Hospital.

“She graduated in May, and then in October of that year — of 2018 — she moved to Nashville,” Diane said.

Caitlyn sought out residency programs to better prepare herself for work as a nurse, discovering one at St. Thomas West Hospital.

“She always wanted to live in Nashville,” Diane said. “In high school, she talked about moving to Nashville — that’s where she wanted to go.”

After interviewing with the hospital, Caitlyn was accepted into its yearlong residency program. Upon graduating, she was a offered a full-time position as a nurse in the intensive care unit.

“Caitlyn loved school; she loved to learn,” Diane said. “She would have continued her education.”

Moving forward, Diane said that Caitlyn had been looking into further training as a nurse anesthetist.

“Caitlyn also really liked orthopedics, and I think she liked that because of the athletic training,” Diane said. “But, actually, I could have seen Caitlyn go on to become a doctor.”

In 2020, though, Caitlyn already was living a satisfying, full life, according to her mother.

“She was living her dream — she was truly living her best life,” Diane said. “She absolutely loved Nashville.”

Diane said Caitlyn’s loss left a “huge void” in her life.

“She was a very caring soul; she knew what she wanted, and she went after it,” Diane said. “She didn’t let anyone, or anything, stand in her way. She was a very decisive person and, you know, she just did — she just always knew what she wanted.”

When Caitlyn did not answer her mother’s second call the night of the shooting, Diane said she initially thought nothing of it.

“It wasn’t unlike Caitlyn to not answer whenever I would call back the second time,” Diane said. “Here’s what happened: I hung up, I went into the store, I called back. I waited five minutes, because a lot of times Caitlyn would then call her girlfriend, and whenever I would call back the second time, she would answer.”

Although Caitlyn did not answer that night, Diane said she assumed she had just made it to work and was busy.

“So, I sent her a text,” Diane said. “I said, ‘Honey, I tried to call back, I’m sorry I missed you. I love you and I’ll talk to you tomorrow,’ because I knew that she would be busy and she would call me in the morning.”

A few hours later, Caitlyn’s best friend phoned Diane, telling her that St. Thomas West Hospital reported Caitlyn as missing from work.

“And I said, ‘Well, that can’t be true, because I was on the phone with her and I know where she was,’” Diane said. “At that point, she was on Interstate 440 getting ready to exit via the hospital — she was only a mile away from the hospital.”

Diane opened location services on her phone and discovered Caitlyn’s car still was on the interstate.

“I saw that her car wasn’t moving, and then it was just a snowball from that point on,” Diane said. “It was just call after call.”

The calls culminated in a conversation with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department — confirming Caitlyn’s death.

In the court proceedings that followed, Rick and Diane attended the entire trial.

“We were shocked by the outcome of the trial — you know, for the driver to be acquitted — that was very upsetting because, obviously, in our minds, he played a part,” Diane said. “He was the driver of the car, so that was upsetting.”

While Cowan ultimately was acquitted, he is in custody on federal charges. A convicted felon for robbery, Cowan was caught with weapons and narcotics during his arrest for Caitlyn’s murder, police said.

“He’s actually being detained, pending trial, so hopefully — hopefully — he won’t have another hearing where he tries to get out,” Diane said.

She said his trial is scheduled for September.

“Still, the shooter is in prison now, and he will remain in prison for a minimum of 20 years,” Diane said. “He has the possibility of getting out in 20 only because of good behavior, so he could be out in 20 — but hopefully not.”

Rick felt the punishment did not match the crime.

“We got the life sentence,” Rick said.

Diane agreed.

“Yeah, we have received the life sentence,” she said. “Caitlyn’s gone, she is not coming back, so we have to live with that forever. Hill only got 25 years, and who knows what Cowan will get.”

Ultimately, Diane said she felt the jury let Caitlyn down.

“I said to the judge, ‘So what is the price for taking someone’s life?’” she said. “Because, I’m not getting my daughter back.”

During the interview with the Eagle, the Kaufmans were briefly interrupted by a loud barking.

“That’s Caitlyn’s dog, Zeus,” Diane said, laughing. “He has a few things to say, too.”

Caitlyn adopted Zeus, a Great Dane, while she was finishing her nursing degree, but had to leave him behind when she moved to Nashville.

Diane said Caitlyn often would reach out to Zeus through video calls, and that she made regular trips home.

“We saw Caitlyn frequently, and I went down at least four times a year,” Diane said. “There wasn’t a lot of lag time where we didn’t see her.”

The last trip home Caitlyn made was for a friend’s wedding.

“And it was a quick trip,” Diane said. “I think it was just the weekend — I think maybe Thursday evening, and then she was back in Nashville Sunday.”

The weekend trip, which Caitlyn made by car, was more than 600 miles one way — a 10-hour trip. She left immediately after work from the hospital.

“That’s just a testimony to what type of a friend she was,” Diane said.

Losing her, Diane admitted, is something she never will understand.

“One thing I’ve never done is I’ve never asked, ‘Why Caitlyn?’ or ‘Why us?’ because I just, I don’t ask that question,” she said. “I know Caitlyn is in a far better place — I do know that, and I do believe that.”

Diane and Rick said they wanted to thank “everyone for all their love and support throughout the entire ordeal.”

And Diane added that anyone who has experienced or is experiencing a similar tragedy should always feel welcome to reach out to her.

“I just know that grief is all-consuming — you can get into a downward spiral so easily, and you can get caught up in that, and it’s hard to get out of it,” she said. “I would just want to help someone if they were ever in that position, because I know the pain.”