Some 3 1/2 years after their deaths and just more than a month after their bodies were unearthed, Lisa Martinez and Tuesday Roberts were buried again.
But this time it wasn't by uncaring strangers, it was by grieving family and friends. Tuesday Malisa Roberts, 15, and her friend, Lisa Vickey Martinez, 16, disappeared March 30, 1992. The girls were on their way to Valley Fair Mall.A prison inmate, Roberto Arguelles, led police to their bodies July 26, saying he saw a group of men bury the girls there but was afraid to come forward at the time. The bodies were buried on the West Salt Lake pig farm owned by Arguelles' uncle.
For the families it was a chance to close a chapter in their lives. Relatives say time has not dulled the pain of losing the girls.
Roberts' funeral was on Tuesday at the Kearns 6th Ward LDS Chapel. The youngest of four children, Tuesday was remembered as spirited and beautiful.
"For three years we waited, considered the worst, yet hoped for the best," said her brother Shawn Roberts. "Whenever I see a beautiful sunset she'll be there looking back at me . . . If I hear a beautiful song, she'll speak to me."
"The definition of love and innocence have changed for us; Tuesday, I'll always love you."
Her aunt, Karen Roberts Rigby, said Tuesday's fate didn't seem fair.
"I'm thankful we finally know where you are," Rigby said. "My heart aches for me and the others left behind. I'm so sorry we didn't know and couldn't help you. I guess there's no sense in trying to make sense of the situation."
Lisa Vickey Martinez was laid to rest in the Murray City Cemetery Thursday morning. Her younger sister, Veronica, read a poem she'd written for Lisa. After hurrying through the verses, she sat down and sobbed on her mother's shoulder.
"She was so good," Veronica Martinez, 17, said afterward. "I can't believe this had to happen to her. I feel so empty because I'd always tell her my secrets. Now I don't have anybody to tell them to."
Lisa Martinez was described as generous and loving. She was the oldest of four girls in a tight-knit family. Veronica Martinez said her sister's disappearance and death have been the hardest on her mother.
"We still have a lot of pain and suffering. We will for a long time."
Shawn Roberts said real closure won't occur until someone is charged with killing the girls.
The case against Arguelles appears to be getting stronger. Investigators brought a potential witness to Utah from Bakersfield, Calif., on Aug. 16.
Officials won't comment on who it was or what he or she saw but they say it strengthens the case against the prison inmate.