Posted at: 06/27/2009 7:17 PM
Updated at: 06/27/2009 10:21 PM
By: Valerie Castro, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

Mother of kids found in lake held out hope

Mother of slain boys speaks of 'nightmare.'

After being missing for almost eight years, an Albuquerque mother can finally lay her three young sons to rest.

Their bodies were found in a muddy car pulled from Cochiti Lake in Sandoval County in June.

Susana Escamilla says she has wondered since August 2001 what happened to her boys, Richard Jr., Daniel and Christopher Sanchez.

Escamilla said Saturday, "It's been a nightmare. It's just hard to explain."

She said that since the day her sons disappeared with her ex-husband, Richard Sanchez, she has always hoped they would be found alive.

"Yeah, I kept looking, because not one day went by that I didn't think about them," she said.

Family members say she begged God for closure.

"She was praying. She prayed to God: Please give me a sign, give me some closure," Michael Aguilar told Eyewitness News 4 on Saturday.

The children were last seen in 2001 when their father picked them up for a custody visit. Escamilla had filed for divorce when Sanchez was charged with raping another woman.

He had bonded out of jail, but still was facing several years in prison for the rape. Escamilla says she thought Sanchez wanted to spend some extra time with his sons before his sentencing date.

"I thought maybe he was just going to take them for a last weekend to go fishing or just to spend that time with them and when he didn't show up later that evening Sunday, is when I started to worry because he was supposed to be back," she said.

The mother says when Sanchez's car was found in Cochiti Lake earlier this month with the boys' bodies inside, it almost brought her some peace of mind.

"It's some closure, but it's not the closure we wanted. It's hard thinking about how they went, it really is. I have no idea. My god, my youngest was only two, he was still strapped in his car seat."

Escamilla and her family say they plan to visit the lake where the boys were found and float a wreath out on the water.

A memorial for the boys will be held Sunday at 4 p.m. At French Mortuary on Golf Course Road.

A funeral Mass will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at the St. Therese Little Flower Church.

Authorities suspect the fourth body found in the car is the father of the boys, Richard Sanchez, who was the last person seen with the boys.