Family of victim in love triangle botched homicide in Florida speaking out

— -- Crying in front of a Florida funeral home where their loved one lay in a coffin, the family of a woman mistakenly targeted in a murder-for-hire case stemming from a love triangle demanded justice Friday while expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support they have received from the stunned community.

The family of Janice Marie Zengotita-Torres broke their silence 12 days after her body was found badly beaten and dumped by the side of a road in Ormond Beach, Florida.

"Our family believes in the criminal justice system from the state of Florida and we are confident that justice will be served," said the victim's sister, Gisele Zengotita-Torres.

The Osceola County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the case and has arrested three people suspected in the kidnapping and beating death of the 42-year-old woman from Kissimmee, Florida. Investigators say the suspects mistakenly targeted Zengotita-Torres after being hired by a jealous lover to kill a rival for her boyfriend.

Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson said the suspects killed Zengotita-Torres even through they realized she was the wrong woman they abducted.

Gisele Zengotita-Torres said her sister was "a mother, a daughter, a wife, an aunt, a cousin" and that "she formed part of a great family."

"She had excellent qualities, loved by everyone," she said, wiping tears from her cheeks. "Janice’s humbleness won her many friendships that today suffer the loss with us. And we do have the certainty that Janice will dwell with the Lord and she will always dwell in our hearts and in the hearts of everyone."

She said that since her sister was killed, people, including many strangers, across Florida and Puerto Rico, where Janice moved from about a year ago, have "grieved and cried with us."

"We want to clarify that no person in our immediate family has expressed any opinion regarding the case in the media," the sister said. "We do ask the authorities that the appropriate penalties and sentences be given to those responsible for the death of Janice, according to the acts committed."

Arrested in the slaying were Ishnar Lopez-Ramos, 35, and Alexis Ramos-Rivera and Glorianmarie Quinones-Montes, both 22.

Erkya Washington, spokeswomen for the state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties, told ABC News on Friday that charges have yet to be filed against the suspects, who remain in jail.

"It's still with the Osceola County Sheriff's Office," Washington said of the case. "They can take as long as they want. It's an investigation."

Investigators suspect Lopez-Ramos allegedly hired Ramos-Rivera and his girlfriend, Quinones-Montes, to kill a woman who was in a relationship with a man she loved.

During her lunch break on Jan. 7, Zengotita-Torres phoned home to check on her young son and tell her mother she would be home as soon as she finished her shift at the Ross Dress for Less at The Loop shopping mall in Kissimmee, according to police records obtained by ABC News. It was the last time anyone in her family would speak to her.

By 4:30 the next morning, she had not come home, prompting her husband to make a desperate call to the sheriff's office to report her missing.

A missing-person report taken by a sheriff's deputy indicates that Zengotita-Torres nearly made it to the front door of her apartment when she was kidnapped by her killers.

The manager at the Ross Dress for Less, where she was employed, told sheriff's deputies that Zengotita-Torres left work as planned when she finished her shift, according to a narrative of the missing person report.

Security video showed Zengotita-Torres, wearing black pants and a navy blue shirt, driving out of the mall parking lot in her 2016 Nissan Rogue at 12:33 a.m. on Jan. 8.

The store manager told sheriff's investigators he reviewed the video and saw Zengotita-Torres and another employee leave and walk to their cars.

"He advised Janice and (the other employee) talked for approximately 1 minute and then got into their cars and drove off," a narrative of the missing person report reads.

Once her husband reported her missing, a sheriff's deputy called Zengotita-Torres' cell phone, but got no answer, the report says. The deputy soon began to suspect foul play when he was informed that two transactions were made from her Chase Bank account at 1:30 a.m., about an hour after she left work. One of the transactions was a withdrawal of $200, and the second was for $500 made at a CVS store on South Orange Blossom Trail in Kissimmee.

Investigators suspect Zengotita-Torres' killers followed her from the shopping mall to her apartment complex. Once there, they kidnapped her, driving her off in her own car.

Zengotita-Torres' body was found on Jan. 8 in Ormond Beach. Detectives say she had been brutally beaten and suffocated with garbage bags.

Lopez-Ramos was arrested on Jan. 12 after she attempted to use Zengotita-Torres' ATM card, Gibson said. Ramos-Rivera and Quinones-Montes were taken into custody the same day at an Orange County, Florida, hotel.