karlyn ramirez grew up there. she was an easygoing child says her mom, susan garcia - ramirez. >> karlyn, when she was young, she was real calm and quiet. karlyn loved to sing. she would sing all the time.?? whenever she was out with her friends, you know, she would sing for them. >> reporter: rosanna flores was one of those friends. what was it about karlyn you that wanted to be her friend? >> her smile. her voice. her big heart. i can honestly say she never saw any bad in anyone. >> her friends, anais avara and valerie mckechny, say it wasn't all about singing. scl we'd go to the local bar here and we'd dance.?? >> and they say the dancing could literally happen anywhere. that's karlyn in black. >> fun times at the walmart parking lot. >> only in a small city, right? >> she went to college in del rio, started in nursing and then transferred to criminal justice. nothing that prepared her mom for what she did at 22. enlist in the army. >> she didn't ask me, she didn't get my opinion, she told me after she had done

. >> cat trial behind them, the ramirez family and karlyn's friends focused on raising vale and teaching her about her mother.? you are my sunshine?? my only sunshine? >> she sang to her when she bathed her. she sang to her when she dressed her.? my only sunshine? >> vale could still hear that loving voice. karlyn's sister put a recording of her singing inside a teddy bear.? you'll never know dear?? how much i love you? >> we are at this point the constant in her life. we want her to feel protected, loved, everything that i know her mom would have given her. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline. " i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. as we near the end of the year, there's a lot on my mind. as usual, most of it having to do with politics. i wonder, for instance, if the democratic party has learned any of the correct lessons from the midterms. a lot more congressman, pat ryan about, it just ahead. and it won't be long until the russian invasion of ukraine reaches the one year mark. we'll ukraine be able to keep forcing russia back? what do the off-ramps for peace look like