NJ woman moved out west a month ago, is stabbed to death in parking lot

🚨Cali Federico had moved to Colorado with her dog Gaia a month ago

🚨She was due to fly home two days after she was stabbed

🚨A GoFundMe page was created to bring her art and Gaia home

A woman originally from Bucks County who later moved to New Jersey was killed outside a car repair shop near Denver two days before her return home

Police in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, responded to the report of a woman being stabbed while fighting with another in the parking lot of a Midas muffler shop on April 20. The victim, Cali Federico, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Imani Tate, 47, was taken into custody at her Denver home. KUSA TV reports she was charged with murder by the First Judicial DA's Office of Colorado.  Police recommended a second-degree murder charge.

KUSA reported that Tate had been arrested for three violent attacks and was out on bond pending a mental competency evaluation.

Tate has a protection order stating she is prohibited from possessing firearms or other weapons, according to police.

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'Our family will forever have a missing piece'

Federico, originally from Doylestown, left New Jersey for Colorado with her beloved dog Gaia about a month ago "in hopes of selling her art and making new friends," according to a GoFundMe campaign. After running into problems with her vehicle, she made the decision to return home. She was due to fly home two days after she was stabbed.

According to the campaign, Federico was planning to spend her final two nights in Colorado in a hotel and was packing her vehicle when she was stabbed.

"She was protecting her possessions, and it got her killed. Cali's death has left a hole in the hearts of all who knew and loved her. Our world has been shattered, and our family will forever have a missing piece," the campaign's creator Jessica LaRocca wrote. The funds will be used to bring Gaia home and "ensure the perpetrator of this vicious crime gets the justice they deserve."

According to MyCentralJersey.com, Federico was a member of the Hunterdon Central Regional High School Class of 2015 and also attended Central Bucks High School East, according to her Facebook page.

Federico studied art at the Maine College of Art & Design. Friends plan a celebration of her life at Tommy's Park in Portland, Maine on May 4.

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