A family mourns after remains found

Montville, Conn. (WTNH) -- Dental records proved the bones found in Montville over the weekend belong to those of a 26-year-old Norwich woman who went missing in 2006.

After years of hope and heartache, Erika Cirioni's family now mourns her loss.
    
"I just can't picture anybody, anybody do that to anybody," Erika's mother Carol Cirioni said.

It's the outcome Carol expected, but feared. Her 26-year old daughter had been missing since New Years Eve 2006 in Norwich. Dental records identify her skeletal remains found off of Oxoboxo Dam Road in Montville.

Cirioni had a feeling her daughter would be found by water. She even had a dream about it.
 
"All of a sudden I look down at the drain on the side of the road and I saw my daughter floating in there," she said about her dream.

Erika's family searched wooded areas near water all across the state. They never found her, but apparently came close.

"We looked around the lake here but we just didn't come over to this part of it," said Erika's sister Lisa Mellow.  

Now they come as a family to pay tribute to this young mother. Erika's two sons are now 10 and 15-years-old.

"The 10-year-old would always tell me 'Don't worry Gram, my mother's coming back,' and he like really broke down," Cirioni said.

Police believe Erika's remains have been here for about a year, leading her family to believe they were moved. They are hoping that means someone got nervous.

"I won't have complete closure until they find who did this to her," Cirioni said.