HOUSTON – Five-year-old Sierra Patino's family and friend gathered at the steps of Houston’s city hall to honor her memory, as they dressed in her pink, her favorite color.
Patricia Patino, Sierra's grandmother, said she is honoring her granddaughter's memory through a candlelight vigil and a balloon release.
“She was a beautiful happy baby, loved singing and loved dancing,” Patino said.
But she isn't forgetting about seeking the justice she said her granddaughter deserves.
Patino’s daughter, Pricilla Torres, and her boyfriend, Santiago Esparsa Jr., are both charged in connection to the murder of Sierra Patino, whose body was found in a closet wrapped in a blanket.
Patino said she doesn't believe her daughter is the killer.
“I'm going to stick by her even though she is in the wrong for not being the mother she was supposed to be at the point because other than that she was a great mother, but she didn’t take care of her daughter so I blame her for that, but the murderer is him and I want him to pay for what he did,” Patino said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed Sept. 9 Sierra Mikayla Patino day.