Cellphone video shows how Vivian Crowder liked to dance through life, while being the heartbeat of her family.
“Togetherness," said her cousin Jonita Pierce. "She just brought everybody together and just, you know, making you happy. She just was a loving person. She'd bring out the best of you."
Crowder's family says finding her body more than a month after she disappeared is bittersweet.
"I never really expected to not have her, so it's not really peace, but it's closure, but it's not a peaceful closure," Pierce said.
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Crowder, who had dementia, was with one of her young family members at a salon in downtown La Mesa on Oct. 29 when her family says she walked away.
Surveillance video from a neighboring business caught her wandering by. People called police saying they spotted her heading toward the freeway.
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The family now hopes their monthlong ordeal helps to keep others dealing with dementia from suffering a similar fate.
"Make sure you keep that person close, that you guys communicate with that person," Pamella Crowder-Mc Allister said.
“You’ve got to watch them, and don't be afraid to, you know, ask for help," Pierce said.
As the medical examiner works to determine the 71-year-old's cause of death, the family showed their thanks to police and search teams.
"It was really wonderful that, you know, that people care, who don't even know her come out and help us," Crowder-Mc Allister said.
The family says though Crowder may be gone, she’ll keep dancing through their hearts and minds. They say they're still working to put together funeral arrangements.
