RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — The fiancé of an NC State science professor who was hit and killed near campus is on a mission to keep her life’s work going.
“We always joked that she loved her science more than she loved me,” Trevor Huffman said, remembering 41-year-old Dr. Natalia Duque-Wilckins. “She’s just the most passionate scientist, curious, collaborating with all departments, universities from Duke to North Carolina, neuroscience, toxicology, immunology.”
She proposed to me. This just shows you how brave this woman is. … she’s a go-getter, she’s a finisher.
Duque-Wilckins was known as a rising star in her field — unwaveringly dedicated to science, to rescuing animals, and to the man she planned to marry in Chile this January.
Natalia Duque-Wilckins and Trevor Huffman in a lighter moment.
Courtesy of Trevor Huffman
“She proposed to me,” Huffman said. “This just shows you how brave this woman is. Like, she’s just not a traditional woman by any means. She’s progressive, she’s a go-getter, she’s a finisher.”
On Nov. 11, the couple went to lunch near NC State’s campus. She insisted on walking back to work.
“I was like, let me drive you back to the office,” he said. “She was like, ‘No, I want to, I want to get my fitness.’ She’s a huge fitness lover. Like, so stubborn. If she doesn’t get her 10,000 steps, I’m not going to stop her, you know?”
A bad feeling
When Huffman got home, he noticed the couple’s cats started acting strangely. Normally independent, the two wouldn’t leave Huffman alone. He texted Duque-Wilckens to tell her about it, and she didn’t respond.
My heart dropped when they said, ‘No, we have her, and she’s in the ICU in the operating room, and she needs you to get here very fast.
Then, he called her. No answer.
“That’s when I had this feeling like, ‘oh, my gosh, something happened to Natalia,'” he said.
He started looking up nearby hospitals and called the first one that popped up.
“My heart dropped when they said, ‘No, we have her, and she’s in the ICU in the operating room, and she needs you to get here very fast,'” he said.
Natalia Duque-Wilckins and Trevor Huffman were set to be married in January in Chile. He still plans to make the trip.
Courtesy of Trevor Huffman
He found out that on her way back to campus, Duque-Wilckens had been hit by a driver while she was in an intersection.
He rushed to the hospital and made it in time to say goodbye.
“It was just like a chance to say all the things I probably held back from saying, you know, like for what? Why would I hold back, you know?” he said. “And I think that was the — that’s all I could do at that moment, you know, was love her and just be with her, hug her, you know?
“She really taught me how to love unconditionally. I was lucky. Really lucky,” he added.
Family and honor
He still plans to travel to Chile early next year, where their wedding was supposed to take place.
“I’m still going to go down there in January and just hang out with their family and say my vows to her,” he said.
Huffman is also working with NC State to establish a scholarship in Duque-Wilckins’ name — one that will support future female scientists like his fiancée.
“There are going to be women like her coming up through the ranks who are going to be amazing scientists with passion and curiosity and compassion for all of the things that she, you know, she cared about,” he said. “So, the goal is to try to align her mission and her and her kind of values as a human with those next scientists.”
He hopes the scholarship keeps her name and her work alive for years to come.
Copyright © 2025 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.