Vigil marks 7 years since Dulce Maria Alavez disappeared from Bridgeton City Park in New Jersey

Seven years to the day after Dulce Maria Alavez went missing from the Bridgeton City Park behind Bridgeton High School in New Jersey, her family brought balloons to honor the little girl, wearing yellow T-shirts with the same design Dulce wore on the last day she was seen. 

"It's hard because it's been seven years," Noema Alavez, Dulce's mother, said. "Me and my family, we never thought that it was going to be this long." 

Alavez said she was sitting in her car as Dulce and her little brother were eating ice cream on the swings when, in an instant, she realized her daughter was gone, a moment that plays in her head over and over. 

"It's really hard for me to go into any kind of park. I'm just afraid that the same thing will happen again," Alavez said.

Right now, Dulce would be 12 years old and in the seventh grade. Her mom is pleading with anyone who might know where she is to come forward.

"They should speak up that it has been way too long," Alavez said. "I want her to know that me and my mom and her siblings, that we miss her a lot. That we are not going to stop until we find her."

Brenda Trinidad helped organize this vigil and other community events, determined to keep Dulce's name and story top of mind. 

"We're here every year, every birthday, every Christmas," Trinidad said. "We try to keep Dulce's name alive because if we don't, no one really knows that she is still missing." 

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to Dulce's whereabouts.