PITTSBURGH -- Thursday marks one year since FBI Special Agent Sam Hicks was shot and killed in a drug raid at a home in Indiana Township, Allegheny County.

Video: 1 Year Later: Pittsburgh FBI Agent's Family Still Healing

A year after the shooting, his family continues to cope, remembering the man who was an important part of their lives for so long.

Charlotte Carrabotta's face lights up when she talks about her son. She willingly shows off her "Sam collection," filled with items dating all the way back to his first baby blanket.

But for his mother, the memories are all she has. Hicks was shot and killed Nov. 19, 2008, after entering a house with a task force to make an arrest on a drug trafficking indictment. Carrabotta said this past year has been the most difficult of her life.

"There's no closure on the death of a child. There is no closure at all," said Carrabotta.

"It's been a struggle this year. A struggle is the best way I can describe it," said sister Emily Hicks, who described her brother as her best friend. "It's really all starting to settle in now that I can't call him, I can't. Because I did call him just about every week for something ridiculous and he would always answer."

---

Memorial fund info:

Samuel S. Hicks Memorial Fund
Scottdale Bank and Trust
150 Pittsburgh St.
Scottdale, PA 15683

samhicksmemfund@aol.com

---

Emily Hicks said she was the first family member to get a call about her brother's death.

"I never worried. I never thought anything would happen, because he's Sam," Emily Hicks said.

She said when the reality of the situation sank in, she immediately called her mother.

"It was a defining moment in my life that is still a picture," Carrabotta said. "Not one night do I lay my head on the pillow that I don't think of him."

Fortunately for Hicks' family, they don't have to cope alone. On Wednesday night, Hicks' closest friends and family got together to talk about their loss for the first time since he died.

For the last year, the Hicks family has also been coping by trying to make Sam's loss as positive as possible. The family created a charity in Sam Hicks' name, selling T-shirts and running races, raising almost $10,000 Hicks' hometown of Scottdale in Westmoreland County.

"I don't know if he'd want his name and picture everywhere. If we were able to help he would want us to help anyone to achieve a goal or a dream," Emily Hicks said.

At the family gathering on Wednesday there were a few tears, but mainly laughter. Even in death, family and friends said Sam Hicks can only make you smile.

"I'll see him again. I know that. Because I know where he is," Carrabotta said.

Christina Korbe is awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge for shooting Sam Hicks during the drug raid, which was targeting her husband, Robert.

Korbe's lawyers have said the woman fired in self-defense to protect her children because she thought an intruder was breaking in. The FBI has said the task force members clearly identified themselves as law enforcement.

---

• u local: Share Your Photos & Videos With ThePittsburghChannel
• Your County: More County News Headlines
• E-Mail Headlines: We Send The Latest Pittsburgh News To You!
• RSS: Add Us To Your iGoogle Or My Yahoo Page
• Mobile: Get WTAE Headlines On Your Phone, BlackBerry, PDA

---