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9/19 UPDATE - Ernesto Carrillo Hernandez, 32, was arrested on Wednesday after he was found near the US-Mexico border.
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Dallas police want to find the person who murdered a mother of five, but detectives believe he may be in his native Mexico.
Officers found the body of Martha Alva, 35, where Walnut Hill Lane ends in Northwest Dallas around 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
Police are looking for Ernesto Carrillo Hernandez, 32, of Monterrey, who was in the U.S. illegally. They say his car was found near the border in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Alva's family says she was last seen with her Hernandez, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, last Saturday night. The two met up after Alva got off work in the West End, and her family never saw her again.
Destiny Osorio is the oldest of Alva's five children. At just 18 years old, she is now left to care for her four younger siblings on her own.
“Honestly, I never pictured myself organizing my own mom's funeral,” she said. “This is very tough.”
Osorio says her mother worked as a restaurant manager at TGI Fridays for several years to provide for their family. One of Osorio's last memories of her mother is graduation. She was proud to see her oldest daughter graduate this year.
“She just hugged me really tight,” Osorio recalled. “And she's like, ‘You see? I told you you could do it. I believed in you.’”
Alva's family says Hernandez picked her up after she got off work at TGI Fridays in the West End Saturday night. She never showed up for work the next day at noon.
“I had a feeling something happened because she never misses work,” Osorio said. “She would put her all into this job. This job was what she lived off of to provide for us.”
Alva's body was found Sunday morning near where Walnut Hill Lane ends west of I-35. Police are now searching for Hernandez and believe he may have fled to Mexico. Investigators say his car was found near the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas and he was in the U.S. illegally.
As police try to put together what happened, Osorio says she plans to stay in college and continue on for her mother.
“My mom was strong-minded. She was strong,” Osorio said. “I know if she was here, she would've been like, ‘Don't let that stop you. You have to continue. You have to do better.’ I have to be the role model for my brothers now. I would want them doing the same. I can't let myself go no matter what.”
Alva's family says she and Hernandez had issues and reports of abuse in the past, but it was never reported to the police.
CrimeStoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
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