LAKE MARY, Fla. – For the family of a missing mother and her two children, this past year has been a living nightmare. Wednesday is the one-year anniversary of the last day the family was seen before vanishing without a trace.
[WEB EXTRA: Pics: Suarez, Toledo and family | VIDEO: Extended interview ]
Felicia Perez said she has never liked October-- and now she likes this month even less. It's the month in which her daughter, Yessenia Suarez, and her grandchildren, Michael and Thalia Otto, disappeared.
"Thalia told me before this happened, 'Abuela, I cannot wait until Halloween,'" said Perez. "I said, 'Thalia, Abuela doesn't like Halloween.' 'Why don't you like Halloween, Abuela?' I said, 'People tend to do bad stuff in that month.'"
Like what happened to her family.
Investigators say the missing family was killed by Suarez's husband, Luis Toledo--now in jail on no bond.
But Perez and her husband, Ruben, said that's not the worst part. It's not knowing what really happened to them because their bodies have never been found.
"I even sometimes feel guilty that why I didn't stop her, even though I told her to stay," said Perez. "Sometimes I feel like why I didn't do more, like what happened? What happened in that house? What went wrong?"
She's referring to October 22, 2013.
Toledo is accused of going to Suarez's job-- confronting her and slapping her-- accusing her of having an affair.
Perez said that night was the last time she saw Suarez.
"My daughter was at my house because she was supposed to stay with me," she said. "She said, 'Mom, I know a lot of things had happened between him and me, but I just want to do better. He's not helping me. I want to stay with my kids, I just want better for my kids.' She said, 'Mami, will you help me?' But at the same time, she always said, 'Mami, if something happened to me, take care of my kids.' And I'm like, 'Yessie, nothing's going to happen to you.'"
But then, Perez said, Toledo showed up at her house.
"He came to my house at around 6 p.m. to talk to us about the issue, about what had happened," Perez said.
The family discussed the breakup of the couple, and had agreed Toledo would stay in Suarez's house while he got money together to move out. Perez said she even gave Toledo food as he was leaving.
"He left that night. Yessie was not going go to the house," said Perez. "She was supposed to stay with me, because I went to her house to pick up clothes for the kids. But then at 8 p.m. she's like, 'Mom, I want to go to my house.' She said, 'Mom, I want to sleep in my bed,' I said, 'Yessie, there's a bed here, let him cool down,' I mean, he was very upset, let him cool down.'"
But Perez said Suarez was texting someone the whole time, and still a year later, she's not sure who. She can only assume Suarez was talking to Toledo, and he convinced her it was alright to come home.
Perez said Suarez and the kids went home that night, and then, when she didn't hear from Suarez in the morning like she usually did, she called police.
But Perez said there were red flags in the past they should have paid more attention to.
"Three days before, he pulled a knife on her," said Perez. "And she mentioned it to me, and when he pulled the knife, he said, 'I'm going to kill you and I'm going to kill your mother.'"
Perez said Suarez was scared -- but apparently not scared enough.
She said she can't understand how anyone would hurt a child, especially after her family accepted Toledo and treated him like one of their own.
"I'm trying so hard to swallow that he hurt my grandkids and my daughter, because all my daughter wanted was the best for him," said Perez.
Her husband said he never would have believed Toledo would have harmed the children, saying Toledo had been against hurting children even when the Casey Anthony trial was in progress.
"I remember when the Casey and Caylee issue was going on and we would sit around the living room," said Ruben Perez. "He would even make comments about that, and you know, how awful Casey was with the whole situation with Caylee."
"How could she hurt that pretty little girl?" said Felicia Perez.
"We're sitting there as a family, and who would ever thought that we would be going through something similar," said Ruben Perez.
Now, they're just hoping to get answers, and get them sooner than later.
"I always say, 'God, don't let me leave this world without knowing what happened there,'" said Felicia Perez.
The Perez family now wants to make sure any woman in a similar situation, or any domestic violence situation, knows she can find help.
"Don't argue, just pack your stuff and leave," said Felicia Perez. "Find a safe place and don't go back... not only do you pay the price, your kids pay for the price too. It's not fair."
"Domestic violence doesn't have to end with your life," said Ruben Perez. "There's ways that you can seek help and get out of the situation, don't wait for 'it's too late.'"
