It was all one big accident -- a text message to a wrong number.

But one message led to another. That led to another. And after a while, Aaron Nemelka and Kristin Whittle decided they'd meet.

"We liked each other right away," Whittle remembered on Friday, a day after Nemelka -- who was planning to propose marriage when he returned home on leave next month -- was killed in a shooting at the Army's Fort Hood.

Whittle said Nemelka enjoyed taking her to a spot in Herriman that overlooked the Salt Lake Valley, a place he said was like visiting the "top of the world."

"I loved him very much and he will always be in my heart," Whittle said. "I will miss him more than words can say."

Sheena McFarland