"Your daughter was a good woman. Her spirit was strong, and she's on the journey," Lakota tribal member and poet Caryn Lee Hacker told members of Redhorse's family, as they stood solemnly in a circle with about 40 other people.

Redhorse, a native of Farmington and 1995 graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., died from injuries suffered from a sexual- assault incident in Durango in June 2007.

Also honored at the vigil were sexual-assault victims everywhere.

"We're here to shine the light on sexual assault and bring it out of the shade in which it's been hiding," said Eddie Box Junior.

Kenny Frost, a spiritual leader of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, blessed the group in song and led a prayer as part of a Wipe Away the Tears ceremony.

Although a persistent wind prevented lighting of the wicks, candles were handed out anyway.

Frost told the group that the candles carried symbolic significance.

"Every second we stand here," he said, "someone in the world is being abused and we need to remember them."

Both Frost and Hacker criticized The Durango Herald and newspapers nationwide for their reporting of sexual-assault cases.

"The system that we live in today drags the woman's name through mud so the women, or men, who have been abused think, 'What good was it to report it?'" he said. "The unfortunate fact is that Nicole went through this (even though) she graduated from an Ivy League school. She did what very few native women do."

Nicole's father attended the vigil and told those who gathered to honor his daughter that she had come to Durango to start a new life.

He also spoke up for all victims of sexual assault.

"The message is that sexual assault will not be tolerated," Kenneth Redhorse said. "It's no longer OK to be assaulted and not do anything about it."

The vigil was organized by Durango-based Our Sister's Keeper, an intertribal coalition that assists and advocates for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

"We're saddened that it took a tragedy and a life to bring us all together," said executive director and founder Diane Millich.

Millich said that Gov. Bill Ritter, who attended a similar vigil the coalition held in Denver last Saturday, proclaimed April 5 as Native American Sexual Assault Awareness Day.

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