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Virginia Nuñez will never forget the most horrific day of her life - February 9th 2008. That’s the day she found her 17-year-old daughter, Brenda Lee Nuñez, stabbed to death inside her own home.

"I got the phone and called 9-1-1 and told them to hurry because she was still warm,” Nuñez said in tears. “But my daughter was already dead."

Maria Galvan understands Nuñez's pain.

She too lost her 17-year-old daughter to a brutal murder in August of 2010. Tiffany Galvan was left to die in a Brownsville park after being stabbed about 48 times.

"I still have a lot of pain. I sometimes feel that I’m dreaming, that it was just a nightmare,” Galvan said. “and I just come back to real life and I know that she's gone."

The similarities between the two Brownsville murders are eerie. Brenda Lee was killed by an ex-boyfriend who was stalking her.

Hector Herasti, who authorities said tied-up, sexually assaulted and stabbed Brenda to death, will spend the rest of his life in jail for the crime.

A boy Tiffany dated, Javier de la Rosa, is behind bars awaiting trial for her murder.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month and the grieving mothers urge parents to get tough on their children's dating lives, and even encourage them to hold-off on dating until an older age.

"They are supposed to focus on school,” Galvan said. “I wish I could have my daughter now to tell her, ‘do not have a boyfriend, focus in school, get your career, it's not important to have a boyfriend at this age, you're too young.’"

Nuñez said her daughter never told her she feared her boyfriend, but adds that before her death, Brenda did express regret for having a relationship at such a young age.

"Towards the end she would say, ‘gosh mom I don’t know why I feel in love so young I should've never fallen in love,’” Nuñez said. “I never knew why she used to tell me that."

These mothers only have the memories of their daughters to hold onto now, but hope their tragedies inspire other parents to get involved before it's too late.
                    
"Have more communication and within schools have a type of program where they can alert the students not to get involved so young with boyfriends and girlfriends.”