DORAL, Fla. – Katie Gonzalez joined a community prayer Tuesday night at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral for a missing woman and her 8-year-old daughter.
"I just came to mostly pray and show the family that we’re here for them," said Gonzalez, who is the mother of the missing girl’s schoolmate at John I. Smith K-8 Center.
Dozens attended the vigil and prayed for Liliana Moreno, 43, and her daughter, Daniela, to come home safe. The two were reported missing a week ago.
"We request Mary to ask God for the health of these two ladies," said Manuel Jimenez, a deacon at the church.
Family members echoed that prayer.
"Tonight we come to pray for my sister and my niece. We hope that they come back soon," said Moreno's brother, Eduardo Moreno-Ramirez.
Earlier in the day police searched an area west of Dolphin Mall for signs of the missing pair.
According to family members, police received a tip to check the area of Northwest 17th Street and 127th Avenue.
"We try to stay strong and positive," said Aislinn Dias, a longtime family friend, who was clinching a missing persons flier.
Their family now fears the worst.
"We feel hope. Sometimes we feel sad," said Moreno's brother, Eduardo Moreno-Ramirez. "I hope somebody tells us what happened. In this moment, we need that."
Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said they assisted in a search for the mother and daughter on Monday with K-9s in the area of Southwest Eighth Street and Krome Avenue. No evidence of the two was found.
FWC officials said they were checking the Everglades, west of Krome Avenue and U.S. 27, on Tuesday. Doral police continued searching throughout the Doral area and Miami-Dade police focused on the Bird Road basin.
Meanwhile, Daniela's father has hired an attorney after he was stunned in the eye with a Taser last Thursday by Miami-Dade police.
Police said they received information that Gustavo Castano was going to harm himself. They said they found him Thursday night after he had stabbed himself in the throat with a box cutter.
Miami-Dade police released a statement Monday night saying that Castano raised the box cutter "as a shield to deflect the prongs," which resulted in a prong hitting him in the eye.
Castano was taken to Kendall Regional Medical Center in stable condition.
His attorney, Michael Grieco, told Local 10 News that the police Taser's prong went into his client's eye and doctors had to remove the eye to get it out.
Authorities have searched lakes and fields throughout the county in their search for the mother and daughter. They have also searched Castano's home and car, as well as a warehouse connected to him.
Police have not called Castano a suspect or person of interest in the case, but said they have questioned anybody who knew the family.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the woman and child is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.