(Top) Alexis Nungaray shows her signature heart pendant with wings that holds a picture of her late daughter, Jocelyn, 12, outside a park in Spring, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Houston. (Bottom Left) A picture of Jocelyn with a butterfly decoration sits on Alexis’ first ofrenda for Day of the Dead, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Houston. Alexis sticks to the traditional schedule, lighting candles and preparing food offerings for every day that corresponds to Jocelyn. (Bottom Right) Alexis Nungaray closes the door to a storage unit where she has put her daughter, Jocelyn’s, belongings, decorating it as her bedroom was before she died, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Houston. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)

“If you would read between the lines, you would see what I’m fighting for. It’s simply justice for my daughter”

Alexis Nungaray, center, stands onstage after Ted Cruz delivers his celebratory speech, securing another term as the Senator of Texas, at the Marriott Marquis in downtown on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Houston. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)
(Left) Alexis Nungaray talks with people after Ted Cruz’s celebratory speech, at the Marriott Marquis in downtown on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Houston. (Right) An ad for Republican Judges with images of homicide victims, including Jocelyn Nungaray, on the side the 610 freeway, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Houston. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)
Alexis Nungaray’s blue hair lays over her signature t-shirt with Jocelyn in angel wings, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Houston. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)

“I imagine her as the most free version of herself, and that brings me peace.”

(Left Top) Alexis Nungaray and her son, Elias, look at Jocelyn’s altar for Day of the Dead, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Houston. (Middle Top) Alexis Nungaray trick or treating with her son, Elias, on Halloween, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Houston. (Right Top) Alexis Nungaray and her mother, Jackie, finish their makeup before taking Elias to trick-or-treat, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Houston. Alexis decided to go as a butterfly, in honor of her late daughter, Jocelyn. (Left Bottom) Alexis Nungaray, 27, pushes her son, Elias, 6, on the swings at a park in their neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Houston. (Right Bottom) Alexis Nungaray, 27, plays on the trampoline with her son, Elias, 6, in the backyard, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Houston. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)

Alexis Nungaray and Elias unload groceries, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Houston. Alexis’ first ‘ofrenda’ (altar) for Jocelyn, her late 12 year-old daughter, sits in the living room. Alexis sticks to the traditional schedule, lighting candles and preparing food offerings for every day that corresponds to Jocelyn. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)
(Left) Alexis Nungaray, 27, looks for balloons to decorate her daughter Jocelyn’s memorial on the anniversary of her death, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Houston. (Right) Alexis Nungaray, 27, hangs Halloween balloons up on the fence of her daughter Jocelyn’s memorial on the anniversary of her death, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Houston. Alexis decided to buy a ghost balloon because she said that Jocelyn would find it funny. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)

Alexis Nungaray, 27, grabs the fence as she cleans her daughter Jocelyn’s memorial on the anniversary of her death, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Houston. The memorial site has expanded to curve around the fence, with new stuffed animals and other offerings left. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)

(Left) Alexis Nungaray looks through her high school scrapbook at baby pictures of Jocelyn while at her daughter’s grave on the anniversary of her death, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Houston. (Right) Elias, 6, adjusts the arrangement of items on his sister, Jocelyn’s, altar for Day of the Dead, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Houston. Elias said that he ‘wanted Jocelyn to see everything’ on her altar. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)

“If it does quiet down, part of me will be a little sad, because a piece of me will feel like she’s getting forgotten.”

Alexis Nungaray sits at her daughter, Jocelyn’s, grave on the anniversary of her daughter, Jocelyn’s, death, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Houston. Alexis often goes to the cemetery to sit with her daughter and talk to her. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)

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Lexi Parra is a photo editor for Houston Landing. Before moving to Houston, she worked as an independent photojournalist in Caracas, Venezuela and New York, NY, and her work has been published in The New...

Antranik Tavitian is a photojournalist at the Houston Landing. He previously worked at The Arizona Republic, where he covered the border, Arizona politics, Mezcal production in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Phoenix’s...