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I have nightmares. I don't sleep. I barely focus at work because there's not a minute or a day go by or a second that you don't think about it because you do.

People think I'm not hurt, but I am. My kids are my world. Whether they're grown or not.

Monica taught me what real love was when I had her. I made her an Easter basket. I still have it because I made her an Easter basket every year.

I know what I can't give it to her. It's cute. None of this makes any sense to my daughters out there and those boys are wondering where the hell is their mom.

The baby don't even remember who she is. I thought, they're her. We get questions every time we see them. When's mommy coming home?

I'll tell them that the bad people said mommy and we're going to find her or we're going to bring her home. But when they come back and tell me they say that her husband was telling that mommy lost with somebody else. Mommy didn't love them no more. And we all know that's not true.

On Friday, January 17, 2020, Veronica Reyes Diaz left the home she shared with her husband and three sons in Dover, Florida. She planned to spend the Friday evening out with some friends.

One of her friends dropped Veronica off at her home and then she left to go pick up her kids from her sister's house.

Veronica came back home and put them to bed and has never been seen again. The stories about Veronica's disappearance seemed to center around one series of events.

But Veronica has never been found and her family is no closer to finding answers more than a year after she vanished.

I'm Marissa and from Wondery, this is episode 273 of The Vanished. Veronica Reyes Diaz's story.

At just 23, Veronica's life was full of energy. She had three young sons at home and spent her time devoted to raising them.

Veronica had grown up in a single parent home and wanted a different life for her own children. We were fortunate to speak to several members of Veronica's family.

And one of those was her aunt Claudia, whom she shared an especially close relationship with. When we talked to Claudia, she told us about Veronica and the home life she grew up in.

Growing up, she was very out, you know, I would spoke in loud. She was just very friendly with everyone. I loved like her mom, in that way. Funny. And she was smart. She was really smart.

She started young as a mommy, but she definitely was smart. And once she put her mind through something, she definitely would do it.

She has two sisters and a brother. They were close. I know they had just regular brother and sisters. They had their fights, but they always had each other's back.

No matter what the situation was, their mom and dad were both, you know, they divorced or separated.

So I think that affected her growing up a lot. She was daddy's little girl. So that definitely affected her. You know, you had one side of the family, which was a dad that was a little more stricter. And you had the mom.

I guess she was more of their friends than a parent and it did that affected her a lot.

Even though her parents weren't together, Veronica was able to have a positive relationship with both of her parents. We also spoke to her mom Tina, and she shared with us how Veronica's birth changed her life. And that she learned to co-parent with Veronica's dad, even though the relationship didn't work out.

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