That woman, 22-year-old Franchesca "Cheka" Alvarado, had been missing since March 2012.
"Now, we, the family, are preparing for a memorial service next week," sister Alma Rios said.
"There were many speculations, her maybe in Vegas, her maybe doing this; she's an adult, she left willingly and maybe she'll come back willingly, but we knew, we knew," sister Mia Casting said.
It was this past August when a shoe washed up ashore and was found by a fisherman at Corson's Inlet Park in Ocean City, New Jersey with human remains inside.
Family members told Action News they were informed by police that the foot was tentatively identified as Alvarado's.
A Facebook page dedicated to finding Alvarado was recently updated to reflect the finding.
Alvarado leaves behind a big family including seven siblings and her four-year-old daughter Jania.
"Yesterday, we had to really break the news to her that mommy is not really coming home and it's just sad," Mia said.
So now, the lingering question is what happened?
It was about a year and a half ago when Franchesca went to Atlantic City with a male friend.
That friend told investigators Alvarado left their hotel room in the morning and simply never returned.
Now, Francesca's family wants to know who, if anyone, is responsible.
"It's still an investigation and we're going to make sure we get justice," sister Christine Diori said.
