Tiffany Ferguson would have celebrated one year as a nurse at St. Thomas West on the day following her death.
The 23-year-old was found stabbed to death inside her Wedgewood Park apartment early Tuesday morning.
"I'm still sick to my stomach about it," said Jonathan Emling, who worked with Ferguson in the St. Thomas West ICU. "It doesn't feel like this could happen, not to someone like her."
Emling said many coworkers gathered at the ICU Tuesday night to be together.
"The whole night was rough. We had a lot of people who were off that night come in and hang out in the break room. We had a lot of people buy us food," Emling said. "We just sat together as much as we could."
Emling said Ferguson was compassionate to everyone and brought that compassion to her work every day.
"She was really bright," Emling said. "We have a young ICU, and she was friends with everyone."
Police said they have been pursuing strong leads in the case, but have not found the man pictured in surveillance video near Ferguson's home around the time of her murder. A Metro Nashville Police Department spokeswoman said they're unsure if the man could still be in the Nashville area.
Anyone with information has been encouraged to call police.
