Kate was a socialite, entrepreneur, philanthropist, but she was also a devoted daughter. Her family spoke exclusively with ABC7 about their loss and quest for justice.
"She was a person who had outer beauty, obviously if you saw her picture of her. But that didn't close to her inner beauty," the victim's father Bill Horan said.
That's how her family remembers the 46-year-old. Coincidentally, ABC7 also did a random interview with Kate on New Year's Day.
Horan was murdered in her second floor apartment on Russian Hill. Police won't say who, but someone called 911 at 3 a.m. Saturday and asked officers to check on her.
"Investigators believe a stranger walked up to the door of the victim's premises and knocked on the door and the victim answered the door," SFPD Public Affairs Officer Albie Sparza said.
The mystery is why would this happen in the safe Russian Hill neighborhood. You need a card or key to get into the apartment building. Unfortunately, there are no security cameras.
Horan and her mother had just returned from a trip to Argentina the day before her body was found.
"Here I had her for 11 or 13 days, 24/7 and it was a beautiful gift considering," Sharon Horan, Kate's mother said.
Horan's memorial service was Wednesday. Her good friend Patti Mangan recalls a poem that was read.
"One line that was written... is that Kate's brain had more branches than a eucalyptus tree," Mangan said.
Mangan says she was quick-witted, brilliant and philanthropic. Kate was on the boards of several charitable groups.
"When she was awake, she was trying to figure out how to touch someone, how to help someone. How to give," Bill said.
Investigators won't say how she was murdered, but they want your help in finding her killer.
