Missing mom Erica Hernandez: Family praying for answers Mother's Day weekend

HOUSTON - The desperate search continues this Mother’s Day weekend for 40-year-old Erica Hernandez.  The missing Houston mother of three mysteriously vanished on April 18.

"She disappeared out of thin air," said Hernandez’s daughter Briza Armenta.  "We’re going hard.  We’re not stopping.  No matter what it takes, we’re going to keep going."

Hernandez was last seen leaving a friend’s home off Benning Drive.  Ring home surveillance video shows Hernandez the night before she disappeared.

"She knew she had to be there for us, for my brothers," said Armenta.  "She wouldn’t have just left us by ourselves knowing we would have been hurt."

Search crews have looked all over Houston for the missing mother.  Last week a vehicle was found underwater in a Missouri City lake.  Dive teams later learned it was a truck discovered underwater, not Hernandez’s missing 2020 black GMC Acadia.

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Sunday marked three weeks since Hernandez went missing.  According to Armenta, Mother’s Day has been especially tough this year for their family.

"I don’t have my mom here to celebrate with me and my brothers," said Armenta.  "There’s just no words to describe how upsetting that is and how sad it feels."

The FBI and local law enforcement agencies are investigating the mysterious disappearance.

"Mom, if you’re watching this, I would say just stay strong," said Armenta.  "We have a lot of people looking for you.  One way or another, we’re going to find you no matter what it takes."

RELATED: Family, volunteers continue to search southwest Houston for any sign of Erica Hernandez