Just looking at Daisy Lartigue, you wouldn't know the wife and mother of two has seen her fair share of tragedy in her lifetime.
"It's still kind of hard," she cries.
Daisy breaks down at the near thought of her mother Maria Antonia Escamilla, woman who would spend her days volunteering at The Good Neighbor Settlement House in Brownsville.
"She was working for the people who were homeless and would feed them during the day."
At night though, Maria, desperate to feed her own six children, took to the streets of Brownsville to make money.
"She had to work downtown, doing things, selling her body."
Maria, a prostitute, was in her usual spot on Adams Street one September night in 1998 when shots rang
out.
Maria was hit and fell to the ground.
She survived, but not for long.
Daisy was only 11 at the time.
"We had to take her off life support a few days later."
It was then that the course of her life dramatically changed.
"I ended up in a foster home with my youngest."
Daisy was determined to make a good life for herself and she has, but still can't get over the loss of her mother, especially since the murderer has not been caught.
"You took away the most precious thing to us, we always looked up to her, a person who no matter what always gave us love and now we don't have that.
I just want them to realize that what they did was wrong."
The weapon used in the murder was a BB gun. Brownsville police say one tiny BB went straight through Maria's eye and into her brain causing damage that eventually killed her.
Daisy rarely visits the spot where Maria was shot, but did so to show whoever was fooling around with a BB gun that night that their actions left 6 kids without a mom.
Children who have grown up, but still want peace.
"Even though she couldn't give us anything for Christmas, she was always there for us.
What mattered most was that she did her best for us and she cared for us and that’s what counted."
Brownsville police say this case is still active and they are seeking any information on who fired the deadly shot on September 13th of 1998.
Call authorities immediately with any useful information.
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