Almost three weeks have passed since Lourdes Martinez last saw her daughter, Maria Martinez.
There’s an emptiness inside their house, the mother said.
“Ella es la luz de la familia y es la que siempre se mantiene motivándonos. Ella es la alegría de la casa (She was the light of the family, the one who always kept us motivated, she was our joy) ,” she said.
Maria Martinez, 22, graduated last December from the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. Her family said she has dreams of becoming a pilot but needed to save up for flight school. So she found work at a restaurant, alongside her mom…