AUBURN — Nearly two weeks ago, Amy Dyke and her family sat down for a home-cooked dinner — their first together in about a year.
The table was set with baked chicken, cornbread, the "biggest potatoes anyone has ever seen" and two pies: banana cream and chocolate pudding, said her 18-year-old daughter, Lyndsey Dyke.
"It felt like the day went by slow," she said. "Thinking back, I realize that was because we were just enjoying [it.]"
Recent years have been rife with difficulty for the family of five, who found themselves staying with friends, in hotels and in their cars after losing their home around 2014. But the harshest moment came one day after last month's dinner, when 48-year-old mother Amy Dyke was killed in Kent — fatally shot in an incident that police said appeared to be targeted.
The killing marked the city's 18th homicide so far this year, a grim increase from the nine homicides reported there in 2022.
Derrik Rigtrup said his sister had just dropped him off with their mother and her friend outside a day care center July 27 in the 11100 block of Southeast 240th Street when he saw a group of men walk toward the car he was in, making him uneasy.
"It all happened in 25 seconds," said Rigtrup, 27, recounting the traumatic events and the confusion surrounding his mother's fatal shooting. Kent police have not released additional details about the circumstances of the shooting, though they've said they're searching for four suspects they believe were involved.
In an interview last week at his sister's Auburn home, Rigtrup, his siblings and their father remembered Amy Dyke as a steadfast, stubborn and strong woman.
"She lived a hard life," said Jeff Dyke, her husband. "But anywhere we were, Amy tried to make the best of it."
The past few years have been especially hard on the family, he said. Pandemic-era eviction protections fell away, and the family contended with unemployment, health problems and losing ten years' worth of belongings when they were late on a storage unit payment, he said.
Jeff Dyke, 49, long worked in construction, but he needs surgery brought on by years of the work. His wife focused on raising the children.
The family has created a GoFundMe page to assist with funeral costs, cover the surgery and help the family get back on its feet.
"It doesn't make sense how one family can live through so much tragedy," Jeff Dyke said. "We were hoping to all be together soon."
Amy Dyke was a devoted mother, her husband said, and especially cared for Ethan Dyke, their 21-year-old son, who has Down syndrome.
It was hard on her to have the family separated during periods when they were unhoused, Jeff Dyke said, as they opted at times to have some of the children live with other relatives.
Through it all, her kids kept her going, Rigtrup said. "That's where she continued to draw strength from."
And if there was anything she loved to do, it was brag about her youngest, who managed to get her own apartment last year and graduate from high school in June.
Lyndsey Dyke in many ways had to raise herself, her father said, building a resiliency through instability and committing herself to getting stable housing and a secure job upon graduation.
"She always told everyone how proud she was of me," Lyndsey Dyke recalled. "I always considered her to be like my best friend."
Amy Dyke would also watch over young girls the family met while unhoused — ensuring sure they had clothes, food and other essentials, even as she and her own family were experiencing homelessness.
"They would call her, 'mom,'" Jeff Dyke said, recounting how his wife's kindness didn't go unnoticed and the ways people would, in turn, help their family as well.
Amy Dyke was also a creative person who enjoyed baking with her daughter, crafting and celebrating birthdays and holidays when time and finances allowed.
"She was huge on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, even when we stayed in hotels," Lyndsey Dyke said. "She'd buy decorations that we could reuse and tried to make it as big as she could."
But if there was anything Amy Dyke loved, aside from her family and friends, it was a good deal.
She loved to go "diggling," or scouting for items at secondhand stores or garage sales, and was consistently thoughtful in her purchases: things she knew her loved ones needed or gifts she thought they would like.
Now, her children and husband are left with those mementos, and memories of the family matriarch.
"We're just hoping something good will happen to our family soon," Lyndsey Dyke said.
