However, this murder mystery is just one of a number of heartbreaking cases like it in Suffolk County - now fears are mounting.
16-year-old Angel Soler was last seen leaving his home in Freeport back on July 21st, but hadn't been seen since. His remains were found buried just off the Southern State Parkway along the Roosevelt-Baldwin border, in what police are calling a grave-site.
Remains ID'd as missing teen
[Ads /]
Investigators aren't saying how Soler died, or specifically whether he died at the hands of MS-13. The notorious street gang is responsible for 17 murders.
Lillian Pineda is convinced that her son has suffered the same fate. What worries Pineda is that Soler was good friends with her son, Kerin, and attended the same school in Freeport.
She told Eyewitness News that her son received a Facebook message from a girl arranging a meeting in a wooded area. Pineda now believes that the message was written by a gang member posing as a girl.
"I'm afraid he was murdered, too, just like Angel," she says.
[Ads /]
Pineda said her son was confronted by gang members about the sneakers he was wearing shortly before he disappeared in May 2016. She is urging detectives to do more to find her son, and is expected to speak with investigators.