Family, friends gather to mark 10 years since murder of Deltona mother, children

Felicita Nieves released two silver balloons in the form of the number 10 Monday to mark a decade since she last saw her daughter and two grandchildren, who were murdered and whose bodies have never been found.

Nieves, 59, gathered with family and friends along DeBary Avenue near Interstate 4 to raise awareness about domestic violence and to mark the commemoration of the killings.

“Ten years not easy,” Nieves said at the memorial. “Still waiting for answers. Like I always said, I will never stop looking for my daughter and my grandkids. They are always in my heart. I just know I need to continue, hoping for the best, hoping that one day I will find them.”

Yessenia Suarez, 28, along with her two children, Thalia Otto, 9, and Michael Elijah Otto, 8, were murdered in their Deltona home Oct. 23, 2013.

Suarez’s husband, Luis Toledo, was convicted of their murders in 2017 in a trial that was moved to St. Augustine due to the publicity.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty but the 12-member jury fell two votes shy of that recommendation. Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano sentenced Toledo in 2018 to three consecutive life terms.

The 41-year-old Toledo, who was a high-ranking member of the Latin Kings gang in Florida, is serving his time at the Columbia Annex part of the Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City.

Toledo has never revealed what he did with the bodies.

"Yeah, 10 years, believe it or not, I never thought we were going to be 10 years without not finding Jessie or the kids," Nieves said. "I never thought this would happen but reality yes it’s here. Ten years have come and still waiting."

So on Monday afternoon, Nieves and friends and family held signs and waved at passing motorists. One sign read, "Break the Silence, End Domestic Violence," while another said, "Honk. Say No to Domestic Violence." A sign with a photo of Yessenia Suarez under the word "Missing" was placed on the grass near the road. Many passing motorists honked their horns.

Under a small canvas shelter, the group had placed handouts about the mother and children. A photo album displayed their pictures, memories of good times and smiles, of achievements and of special occasions, like a church play.

Emily Andino looked through the photo album. Andino, who is 18, met Thalia in kindergarten and had the same class with her every year. She remembered her friend had always been active in school, a cheerleader who also enjoyed playing a musical instrument.

“She was so much joy,” Andino said. “She was always so kind.”

“Happy kid, very happy,” said Andino’s mother, Elaine Melendez, about Thalia.

They said the families would sometimes get together at their homes or at a park.

“We would take the girls shopping for back to school,” Melendez said. “We would have matching outfits for them.”

They still have drawings that Thalia made. And Andino wore a beaded bracelet that Thalia had made for her many years ago.

The murders brought a violent end to gatherings.

“It was very shocking and very heartbreaking that day we found out,” Andino said. “And it’s just really hard to process. That’s not something you can get over, you know. It’s not something you ever learn how to deal with. But we try to get on day by day. And you just hope that one day they’ll come home.”

She said it would be "healing" to have a place where family and friends could visit them.

Yessenia Suarez's sister, Emily Mejia, would also like a place to visit her family members.

"I just pray that one day Luis would eventually say something that way we can go ahead and put them to rest," Mejia said.

"It’s been 10 years," Mejia said. "I just want to know where my sister and Thalia and Elijah are. We just want to put them to rest. They deserve a proper burial."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Murdered Deltona family's bodies still missing 10 years later