i'm like, i want to go back to school. >> and you did on the day you lost your mom? >> because that was normal for me. it was a normalcy thing for me. >> in hindsight, maybe the best thing she could have done. her favorite teacher for her. >> she had wolf pups. she had a friend. i remember holding the wolf pups. i'm sure they had lost her missouri they're orphan. >> what a jumble of things. >> that was the most comforting thing i could have done is hold those wolves. >> by then, her untimely death was rippling across town. students across the law class were the first outside the family and authorities to suspect something had happened. >> his class was all outside his classroom waiting for him to come. >> reporter: one of curtis' students, erica, was surprised to learn his class had been cancelled. later, she learned why. >> everyone was in shock. she was a very young 38-year-old.