The children of 52-year-old Maria Dolores Escobedo describe her as the heart, the rock of the family.
"She didn't have a mean bone in her body, so everybody could go to her," said Dolores's son Tim Escobedo.
With four children, ten grandchildren and ten of her own siblings, Dolores created a lot of love in her life. More than a week after her death, her kids and family are left supporting each other.
"There's times that we start laughing about funny moments, and then we start crying immediately after the funny moments because we just miss her," said Jessica Escobedo, Dolores's daughter.
Sharing memories around Jessica's kitchen table Monday night, the family describes Dolores as beautiful, photogenic, nurturing, and always on the dance floor. Dolores graduated from Marana High School and at one point was honored by the town for her work with the food bank in Marana.
For now, it's hard for the tight-knit family to grieve fully.
"Aside from how wonderful our mom is, there is somebody out there that did this to her," Jessica said. "And we do want, we want peace. We want to grieve finally. We want to grieve without knowing that someone is there."
The Tucson Police Department says Dolores was found with obvious signs of trauma on October 1st at a home on the 5500 block of South Tyndall Avenue.
MORE: Police identify south side homicide victim.
TPD obtained a felony arrest warrant for 43-year-old Mario Jesus Dorame. Officers say Dolores had a relationship with Dorame, but they did not know the current status of the relationship.
Dolores's children say they did not know Dorame well, but they had met him at some family functions.
The Escobedo family is focusing on Dolores's life which they say was spent helping people. Dolores worked as a caregiver for seniors, her family says, and she was a mom to everyone.
If anything is getting the Escobedo family through this, Jessica says it's each other.
"Everyone's together now and supporting each other, and that's what she would have wanted," Jessica said.
A GoFundMe page was set up to help assist the Escobedo family.
