Valerie Reyes feared 'someone is going to murder me' the night before she went missing

Valerie Reyes feared "someone is going to murder me" the night before she went missing. Eight days later, her body was found stuffed into a red suitcase, bound at the wrists and ankles and dumped on the side of a road in Greenwich, Connecticut. 

"She was very scared, very frightened," her mother, Norma Sanchez, said of their conversation during an interview at her home in New Rochelle, New York. "She didn't mention anything or no one specific. She just said: 'I'm scared. I'm paranoid, mommy. I'm getting anxiety attacks. She was having a hard time talking. 

"I asked her: 'Why do you feel this way? Was there someone at your house?' I asked about her ex-boyfriend. And she said, 'No,'" Sanchez said, of her conversation with her daughter Jan. 28. 

Feb. 5:Woman found dead, bound in suitcase, on side of Connecticut road

Feb. 7:Woman found dead in suitcase identified as missing New York resident Valerie Reyes

"I'm afraid someone is going to murder me," Reyes told her mother that evening.

"We wonder, 'Who made her feel this way?'" Sanchez said.

Reyes, 24, who lived in an apartment in New Rochelle, broke up with her boyfriend on Jan. 24, according to Sanchez. 

Reyes' body was found on Tuesday and identified two days later.

Reyes was reported missing to New Rochelle police on Jan. 30. Sanchez said the family hired a private investigator the next day, who tracked Reyes to Manhattan, where ATM surveillance cameras captured her image around 2 a.m. Reyes' bank card also was used that morning in the city at a different ATM, though it's unclear if she or someone else used the card, Sanchez said.

During a Thursday evening vigil in Glen Island Park, a few hundred people held candles in Reyes' honor while praying and singing in Spanish. 

Greenwich and New Rochelle police are investigating Reyes' disappearance and death.

Anyone with information about the case may call the Greenwich police at 203-622-3333 or email tips@greenwchct.org.

"There needs to be justice for my precious daughter," Sanchez said. "The people who did this need to pay."

Follow Christopher J. Eberhart on Twitter: @ChrisEberhart2