Family heartbroken after missing Queens mom is found fatally shot

A man has been arrested for allegedly killing a mother of four who was found buried in a shallow grave in Queens on Saturday.

Police say Seraphina Pereira, 35, had been missing for days.

"Something doesn't add up. First of all, Sera would never leave her kids," said Brenda Gorczynski, Pereira's sister-in-law. "How is she missing, and for so long?"

Gorczynski says her brother and Pereira were married and had two sons together before Gorczynski's brother died in 2019. She described Pereira as fun, kind and a loving mother.

"However little resources that she would have, she would make the most of it," Gorczynski said.

Saturday night, Pereira's body was found near Beach 58th Street and Almeda Avenue in Edgemere. Investigators were seen combing the area with flashlights, searching for evidence. The medical examiner later determined she had been shot in the head, neck and chest, and ruled the death a homicide.

Monday, investigators arrested Rogelio Lozano-Garita, 26. Gorczynski says Pereira was in a relationship with him and they had two children together.

"If he was capable to do this, with so much that's been going on, who is to say that he would not hurt the kids, too?" she said.

On Tuesday, crime scene investigators were at Pereira's apartment, just blocks away from where her body was found, as detectives continue to work to piece together what happened.

Gorczynski says she is angry her sister-in-law's life ended so viciously.

"Why did he do this to her? Why not just leave?" she said.

She says her heart breaks for her nephews.

"There is no way any of us can ever replace their mom," she said.

Police say Lozano-Garita is facing multiple charges, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence.