Ana Orsini, the 28-year-old Arizona news anchor who died last week, died of a brain aneurysm, her colleague, KOLD-TV anchor Tyler Butler, wrote on Facebook Tuesday, Dec. 17.

“It is so terrible, so sudden,” Butler wrote in announcing Orsini’s cause of death.

“Ana was a force of nature. I keep thinking about how sometimes I’d make a self-deprecating joke and she’d snap, ‘Hey! Don’t talk about my girlfriend like that!’ “Her genuine care for everyone around her will be missed,” he continued.

In KOLD’s tribute, Orsini was remembered as someone “with limitless empathy” who always stood up for “the little guy.” “The moderator had a reputation for mentoring younger colleagues.

Orsini was passionate about saving animals and was a big listener of true crime podcasts, the network said. She was a “peanut butter M&M-loving” and “platform Ugg-wearing” host who was always a “ray of sunshine, even at 4 a.m.”

The journalist’s death was announced by her colleagues at the CBS affiliate in Tucson during a broadcast on Monday, December 16. “It is sad news to share with you, our beloved friend and co-host Ana Orsini passed away unexpectedly last week,” Butler told viewers.

“Ana has been here at 13 News since June 2023 and we are devastated by this loss,” added co-anchor Carsyn Currier, choking back tears.

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According to Orsini’s biography, she began her journalism career in 2018 at a news station in Lubbock, Texas, after graduating from Texas A&M University in College Station. She then went to Medford, Oregon, where she worked as a morning and midday anchor for three years, covering everything from “large wildfires to helping shelter animals find their forever homes.”

Those who knew Orsini are mourning her death, including co-hosts Butler and Currier.

“She was truly one of a kind,” Butler wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, December 16th. “She had an insane passion for helping animals, had a great and sarcastic sense of humor, and was so dedicated to her family.” She LOVED her family and talked about them all the time. I’m glad to have been a small part of her work family.”

On Instagram, Currier remembered Orsini as a friend who “made it a lot easier” to get up in the middle of the night and work the early shift.

“Not only was Ana beautiful, talented and funny, she was unlike anyone I’ve ever met,” Currier wrote alongside a carousel of photos of the two presenters. “To know Anana was to LOVE her. She made everyone around her feel special, heard and understood.”

“She was a proud daughter, sister and the best dog mother to her little son Harley,” Currier wrote. “Rest in peace, sister. I promise to continue to live fully for YOU.”

“There are special people who come into our lives and will have a lasting impact, and Ana Orsini was one of them,” host Dan Marries wrote in his tribute to Orsini. “Ana, you were one in a trillion; wise beyond your years, full of practical insights, clever, compassionate, quick-witted and possessed an infectious love of animals, especially dogs.”

Marries added: “We are all so heartbroken over this sudden and unexpected loss. Ana, your memory is something I will use as strength and inspiration to move forward without you here in the physical world. Ana, you are and will be missed so much.