Deysi wanted Angela to meet her three youngest children and get reacquainted with her oldest daughter, Elsa Rodriguez. Elsa was a baby when Deysi brought her to the United States about six years ago, Angela said.

Deysi wanted Angela to see Frederick as well as the townhouse she and her husband, Pedro Rodriguez, had bought in 2005. And she wanted to be able to sit and chat in person and share time together, Angela said.

Travel costs and the difficulty of obtaining a visa always delayed the sisters' reunion plans. Now Angela hopes she can honor at least part of her sister's wish.

She'll never see Deysi's children alive, but she can see the house where they lived, Angela said.

The four Rodriguez children -- Elsa, 9; Vanessa, 4; Angel, 3, who was commonly called Pedro; and Carena, 1 -- and their father were found dead Monday in their Danielle Drive townhouse.

Deysi Benitez, 25, is missing. Police are investigating four tips and have enlisted the help of Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. to search airline records. Police also have distributed a missing person flier, which notes Deysi is also was known as Deysy, Daysi and Desyi Benitez, as well as Estela Sedillo.

Angela said she doesn't know how the children died or where her sister might be. Although she fears the news she might receive, she desperately wants answers about her sister.

Even learning that she had drowned in a ditch would be better than the not knowing, Angela said.

The sisters have been close friends since childhood, said Angela, who is two years older than Deysi. Although they haven't seen each other since Deysi left their mountain village near Sensuntepeque in 2001, they stayed in touch through phone calls.

Often Angela would remind Deysi about the fun they had running, playing and chatting together when they were growing up.

Deysi would respond that those times were long ago, Angela said sadly.

She longed to return to El Salvador to see her family. The last two of nine siblings were born after Deysi moved to the United States and she has never met them. Another was an infant when she left, Angela said.

Deysi wanted to know them in person, not just in photos. She told Angela she hoped to visit in 2010.

As for her life in Maryland, Deysi didn't share many details, Angela said.

Angela would ask lots of questions, but Deysi typically would say only that things were fine. She preferred to update Angela on her children's accomplishments.

Some days, however, Deysi would confide to Angela about problems in her marriage. She told Angela that Rodriguez had beaten her and she had to call police.

Angela was worried for her sister and asked if the couple had any hope of finding a solution for their problems. She also suggested Deysi take her children and leave Rodriguez.

Deysi didn't want to leave, Angela said. She was worried she wouldn't be able to survive on her own with four children. She wouldn't have anyone to watch her children while she worked.

At one point, Angela and her mother suggested Deysi send the children to El Salvador so her family could look after them, but Deysi refused.

"She said she wouldn't have felt good without her children by her," Angela said.

Deysi had the same reaction when her family tried to convince her to leave Elsa with them when she moved to the United States, Angela said.

Her family wanted Deysi to leave Elsa or wait until she was older before leaving El Salvador. Deysi didn't want to part with her baby and she didn't want to wait to leave.

"She wanted to be with Pedro," Angela said.

The couple met when Deysi was 13; Rodriguez was three years older. He lived in a nearby village and had come to visit relatives who lived near the Benitez family.

They began dating a year later. When Deysi was 15, she became pregnant with their first child, Elsa.

Rodriguez was kind and respectful to Deysi's family and the young parents were happy together in El Salvador, Angela said.

"I don't know what happened," she said.

Rodriguez came to California nine years ago and later sent for Deysi and their daughter, Angela said.

The couple were living in the United States legally, according to Ernestine Fobbs, public affairs officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington.

Deysi Benitez and Pedro Rodriguez were married in Maryland, according to his older brother, Jose Angel Rodriguez, 31. They applied for a license in 2003, according to The Frederick News-Post.

Pedro Rodriguez was the fourth of 11 children. Angel Rodriguez remembers him as a calm child who loved to play soccer.

The brothers got along well and talked periodically by phone after Pedro Rodriguez moved to Maryland.

Angel Rodriguez knew his brother was having marital problems, but was startled by the deaths, he said.

Angela Benitez said the news shocked her as well. She is worried about her sister.

"If she was alive, she would call me," Angela said.

Now she hopes to seek the Salvadoran government's help to get a travel visa.

"I want to come to Frederick to see her house," she said.