journalist i get to cover those types of fields. >> reporter: this is how viewers got to know alison parker. a video produced by the station showing her smiling, full of life. >> i absolutely love mexican food. very, very spicy food. . >> reporter: the 24-year-old virginia native signed on with television station wdbj last year as a morning reporter. alison covered everything from zoo animals to weather. even appearing on cnn last november. >> what you're seeing right now started out as heavy rain. >> reporter: alison graduated from virginia's james madison university in 2012 and was the news editor for the school paper. she loved whitewater rafting and kayaking. >> she took any assignment and ran with it. her personality came through. she was smart. gave her all to the job. >> reporter: alison was dating the station's evening anchor chris hearst though the couple