"She was very, very nice and she helped us with Bible school when she'd be over there,” said Emma Pettit of Moody.

To Pettit, Dillard was a friend -- a woman whom she always enjoyed seeing at church.

“It's very devastating,” she said.

Dillard left behind two young children and a husband. She worked as a hairdresser at the Walmart store in West Plains. To her two young kids, Dillard was the world.

"Those babies are left without the one person they really, really need in their lives,” said Mitzi Wasson, Dillard’s aunt.

Cobey is 4 Kryckett just turned 1.

"If there is anybody out there that knows what happened to this child, she did not deserve what happened to her," said Wasson.

Detectives are looking for answers.

"I'm really not at liberty to discuss the exact location of the body at this time,” said Sgt. Marty Elmore, a spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol’s Troop G in Willow Springs. "We're attempting to leave no stone unturned in this investigation and what we're dealing with."

The questions of who and why remain to be answered. The South Central Drug Task Force has joined the homicide investigation along with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Investigators wouldn't say anything on Tuesday about possible suspects. They also won't detail exactly how Dillard died.

If you have any information on this case, you can call the Howell County Sheriff's Department at (417) 256-2544; or the Highway Patrol at (417) 469-3121.

"We will not forget her, she is a bright and shining star and we will not forget her anytime soon and we will not let those babies forget her either, ever,” said Wasson.