Nearly two decades after a Riverside woman was found dead near the entrance to Lake Poway, her daughter is pleading to the community to help bring her mother's killer to justice.
On Feb. 23, 1999, Teresa Madrigal went grocery shopping and never came back.
"This is where they dumped my mother’s body," Madrigal's daughter told NBC 7 Monday.
She did not want to be identified because she fears the suspect has still not been arrested.
The next day, Madrigal's body was found 60 miles away--she was shot to death and was only wearing underwear.
"They dumped her like she was a piece of trash, like she didn’t have any value," said Madrigal's daughter.
Since there were two different jurisdictions involved in the case, it took a few days to identify Madrigal. Her fingerprints were also not on file and her boyfriend did not report her missing for five days after she disappeared.
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Madrigal was identified 10 days after her body was found near Lake Poway.
Her car--a 1993 Toyota Camry was found seven miles from her Riverside home. The back seat was covered in blood and there was a bullet hole in the roof.
Madrigal's daughter said her mother left behind four children, including her and 11 brothers and sisters of her own. She was 11-year-old when her mother was killed.
"It's been pretty tough on me and my family. The person who did it at the time did it with a very, very cold heart," she said. "They didn't understand that they were taking away a very important piece of our life. They took away a daughter, a mother, a friend, a sister. Nobody deserves to die the way they killed her."
Eighteen years later, there are still no answers in the case.
"The detectives have no lead which is why I’m pleading with the community and with the person that did it…to do the right thing…to do the correct thing that God has asked to be done," Madrigal's daughter said.
Madrigal's daughter said she has forgiven the suspect but she wants them brought to justice.
"I forgive them with my heart because I don’t want to have hate in my life," she said.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said, at the time of its initial investigation, it did not know why Madrigal's body was left near Lake Poway - especially since it was not hidden.
Her body was just a few feet off a busily traveled road.
