Friends and family gathered in Jersey City on Wednesday to pay their respects at the wake for the mom who went missing on Mother's Day and was later found dead.

The wake was held at Riotto Funeral home.

Authorities found the body of 32-year-old Norelis Mendoza near the Jersey City-Bayonne border. The mother of two is described by those who knew her as always being there for her children.

"Couldn't ask for a better mother," says Daniel Rodriguez, Mendoza's brother-in-law. "She was perfect for those kids. The kids didn't want nobody but her. They were so attached."

The father of her two children, Gregory Mallard, has been charged with first-degree murder and other related offenses in connection to her death.