RALEIGH -- Carolyn Jeffries would have been 69 on Saturday, but she was found dead in her home on Rock Quarry Road in Raleigh on Wednesday. That didn't stop her family from celebrating her birthday and her impact on their lives.

The family gathered in Raleigh and released a plethora of purple balloons to the heavens in her memory on Saturday. Her sister, DeJuana Wilson, says the ceremony was a great way to heal, but that it still felt empty without Carolyn.

"That was the only part that I could see was actually missing in this balloon releasing thing," said Wilson. "I could just imagine her being here and just being her bubbly self and being Carolyn."

The Raleigh Police Department is still investigating Jeffries' death as a homicide.