Her mother, Noema Alavez Perez, told NJ Advance Media in an interview this week that Christmas has always been Dulce’s favorite holiday.
“She was real happy because she would want Santa to bring her a bunch of presents,” Alavez Perez said, sitting on a coach next to her mother, Norma Perez Alavez. “We’re sad and worried because my daughter’s not here so we could share these holidays with her.”
In the family’s Bridgeton home, a Christmas tree sits in the modest living room. Dulce’s backpack hangs from a hook nearby. A large photo of Dulce is displayed on the wall and a plaque nearby reads “Worry ends where faith in God begins.”
“We miss her," Alavez Perez, 19, said, speaking in a near whisper, her eyes downcast while wringing her hands with worry. "We’re not going to give up on finding her. We want her to come back.”
Alavez Perez is six months pregnant with her third child - a girl. Dulce’s younger brother, Manuel, is 3 years old.
“I’m trying to be strong - for my son and my other daughter” she said.
Alavez Perez said she remains close to home and doesn’t interact with many people.
“I really don’t go out that much,” she said. “I don’t talk to people. I really don’t answer my messages.”
Dulce’s disappearance has had an impact on Manuel, too.
“He has changed a lot since my daughter’s not here,” Alavez Perez said. “He’s being more aggressive with other kids. He’s not listening. He wasn’t like that before.”
Dulce's backpack hangs on a wall in the family's living room near a Christmas tree.
The grandparents of 5-year-old Dulce Maria Alavez holds signs during a candlelight vigil for their granddaughter at a home on Burlington Road in Bridgeton, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019.
Dulce’s grandmother, who doesn’t speak English, expressed her hope that the whole world can come together to find the missing girl. The holiday season brings fresh hopes.
“She believes in God and she has faith in him that he’ll do a miracle and she will appear,” Alavez Perez said.
Alavez Perez urged anyone who can assist the family in finding Dulce to step forward without hesitation or fear.
“I want more people to help us so we can find my daughter and if they have information to not be scared and talk so we can have her for Christmas here,” she says. “We just want Dulce to come back. That’s the only thing that matters.”
Family of missing 5-year-old Dulce Alavez hoping, praying for Christmas miracle