City of Oakley dedicates park bench to commemorate Alexis Gabe
March 17 is also Alexis's birthday, who would have turned 25.
OAKLEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Friday night, the Gabe family was honored with a bench near Oakley City Hall to commemorate their daughter Alexis.
"We always feel her presence at home. But having a place where she can have her own bench, is awesome!" Gwyn Gabe, her father told the crowd. "And I hope each and every one of you will just come down and have a seat with Alexis."
March 17 is also Alexis's birthday, who would have turned 25. The family marked the occasion with song and speeches in the park next to the new bench.
RELATED: Alexis Gabe's family holds memorial in Oakley to mark 1 year since disappearance, murder
Oakley police say Alexis was killed last Jan. by her ex-boyfriend Marshall Jones. Jones was killed by law enforcement months later while trying to serve him an arrest warrant. The Gabe family later learned that Jones allegedly cut up her body and tried to dispose of the remains.
Rowena Gabe says she would go her daughter's favorite park in Antioch to try and find peace. Because the family still hasn't found all of her remains, Rowena says she can now visit her daughter at here.
"That bench is really important because I can visit here every day," says Rowena. "Now that she has this (bench), it is easy for me to walk from my home and here, to visit her."
The Gabe family says the community and law enforcement played a big role in this investigation and the search for Alexis's body.
RELATED: Other items found with Alexis Gabe's remains in Amador County, Oakley police say
"This case really resonated with a couple of my guys, the key detective in this case. They took it to heart. And they poured everything they had into it. So, I think we have all walked away from this past year as a little bit of a different department," explains Chief Paul Beard with the Oakley Police Department.
The inscription on the bench reads: "For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost."
Gwyn says he chose those words because he doesn't want this city or this community to ever forget Alexis's story.
"We just didn't want people to forget her, to another one of those incidents or murder that happened. We just didn't want to people to forget," says Gwyn.
If you're on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
