“WE WILL SEE SISSY SOON” — THE LAST WORDS A MOTHER SAID TO HER CRYING DAUGHTER… JUST DAYS BEFORE ATHENA STRAND WAS STOLEN FOREVER

Athena Strand’s mom just shared raw video of her younger daughter Rye breaking down in the car, sobbing uncontrollably and begging for her “sissy” while Athena was visiting her dad. Rye cried for 30 straight minutes until she fell asleep from exhaustion.

The video is only 47 seconds long, but it feels like an eternity of pure heartbreak. A little girl, no more than four years old, sits strapped in her car seat, face red and swollen, tears streaming down her cheeks as she repeatedly cries out, “I want Sissy… I want Sissy…” Her tiny voice cracks with desperation. In the driver’s seat, her mother, Alissa Strand, can be heard trying to comfort her with the gentle words that would become tragically prophetic: “We will see Sissy soon, baby. I promise. We will see Sissy soon.”

Those were among the last words Athena’s little sister would hear about her big sister before Athena was taken forever.

Just days after that emotional car ride in December 2022, 7-year-old Athena Strand vanished from her father’s home in Saginaw, Texas. What followed was one of the most disturbing missing child cases in recent American history — a case that ended not with a joyful reunion, but with the discovery of Athena’s body and the arrest of a 31-year-old handyman named Wrendy Chavon Reed, who has since been charged with capital murder.

The raw video shared by Alissa Strand this week has reignited national grief and outrage. Posted to her private Facebook page and quickly shared across true-crime communities, it captures a moment of innocent sibling love that was about to be violently severed. Little Rye, exhausted from crying, eventually falls asleep mid-sob, her small chest still heaving. The camera lingers for a few seconds on her tear-streaked face before the clip ends. The silence that follows feels heavier than any scream.

Alissa Strand has chosen to speak publicly now, more than three years after her daughter’s murder, because she says the pain never leaves — and because she wants the world to remember Athena not just as a victim, but as a beloved big sister whose absence has left a permanent hole in her little sister’s heart.

“Athena was Rye’s whole world,” Alissa told reporters in a quiet interview. “She protected her, played with her, sang to her when she was scared at night. Rye still asks for Sissy every single day. Some days she cries until she can’t breathe. That video… that was just one moment. There have been hundreds like it.”

The events leading up to Athena’s disappearance unfolded with heartbreaking normalcy. Athena had gone to spend the weekend with her father, Brian Strand, as part of their shared custody arrangement. According to court documents and witness statements, Athena was last seen alive on the evening of December 2, 2022. The next morning, she was gone.

What happened in those missing hours remains the subject of intense scrutiny. Police say Wrendy Reed, a handyman who had been working on repairs at Brian Strand’s home, abducted Athena sometime during the night or early morning. Reed allegedly took the little girl, drove her to a remote location, and murdered her before disposing of her body.

Reed was arrested days later after surveillance footage and cell phone data placed him near the location where Athena’s body was eventually found. He has pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors claim they have overwhelming evidence, including DNA and digital records.

For Alissa Strand, the grief is compounded by the agonizing knowledge that her daughters’ last normal interaction was filled with tears and longing. In the days after Athena disappeared, little Rye kept asking why Sissy wasn’t coming home. Alissa would replay the same comforting words: “We will see Sissy soon.” She had no idea those words would become a lie that would haunt her forever.

The video Alissa shared this week has sparked an outpouring of support and renewed attention to the case. Thousands of comments flooded in within hours, with parents sharing their own stories of sibling bonds and the terror of losing a child. Many expressed fury at the justice system, questioning how a handyman with access to a child’s home could allegedly commit such a horrific crime.

Others focused on the emotional toll on Rye, now seven years old, who continues to struggle with the loss of her big sister. Child psychologists who have spoken publicly about the case warn that sibling loss at such a young age can create lifelong attachment issues and anxiety. Rye’s repeated cries of “I want Sissy” represent more than momentary sadness — they reflect a fundamental breaking of the secure world a child needs to feel safe.

Alissa has been open about the difficulty of parenting through unimaginable grief while trying to help her surviving daughter heal. “How do you explain to a four-year-old that her sister is never coming back?” she asked in one interview. “How do you keep saying ‘We’ll see Sissy soon’ when you know it’s no longer true?”

The tragedy has also reignited broader conversations about child safety, custody arrangements, and background checks for anyone who has access to children in private homes. Reed reportedly had no prior criminal record that would have raised immediate red flags, yet he allegedly had access to Athena during the critical hours when she disappeared.

As the legal proceedings against Reed continue, Alissa Strand has transformed her pain into advocacy. She has spoken at events for missing and murdered children, pushed for stronger legislation regarding background checks for handymen and contractors, and created a foundation in Athena’s name to support families dealing with child loss.

Yet no amount of advocacy can fill the empty space at the family dinner table or silence the quiet moments when Rye still whispers for her sister.

The video of Rye crying in the car has become a devastating symbol of everything that was stolen. Those 30 minutes of inconsolable sobbing captured the pure, unfiltered love between two sisters — a love that was about to be violently severed. When Alissa told her youngest daughter “We will see Sissy soon,” she believed it with every fiber of her being. That belief makes the eventual truth even more crushing.

For those who have followed the case from the beginning, the resurfaced video serves as a painful reminder of how quickly normal family life can shatter. One weekend visit. One handyman with access to the home. One moment of vulnerability. That was all it took to destroy a family forever.

As the trial date approaches, the community and the nation continue to watch. Many are demanding the death penalty for Reed, while others focus on systemic failures that allowed a predator access to a child. Alissa Strand has remained remarkably composed in public, but those close to her say the pain is constant and all-consuming.

In one particularly moving moment during a recent interview, Alissa played the 47-second video again for the camera. As Rye’s cries filled the room once more, Alissa’s eyes filled with tears. “This is what he took from us,” she said quietly. “Not just Athena. He took away my baby’s sense of safety. He took away her big sister. He took away the future where they would grow up together.”

The last words Alissa spoke to Rye in that car — “We will see Sissy soon” — now echo with cruel irony. They represent both a mother’s love and the devastating limits of a parent’s ability to protect their children from evil.

As spring turns to summer and another year passes since Athena’s murder, the Strand family continues to navigate life with a permanent absence at its center. Rye still has days where she cries for Sissy until exhaustion takes over. Alissa still has nights where she lies awake wondering what she could have done differently.

The video Alissa chose to share this week is more than just a mother’s cry for justice. It is a testament to the unbreakable bond between two little sisters. It is proof that even in the face of unimaginable evil, love persists — even when it hurts so much that a child can only express it through tears.

Athena Strand was only seven years old when she was taken. She never got to see her little sister grow up. She never got to fulfill the big-sister role she clearly cherished. But in the 47 seconds of raw footage that her mother shared with the world, Athena’s presence is still powerfully felt — in every sob, in every plea for “Sissy,” in the love that continues to bind two sisters even across the divide of life and death.

The trial will eventually deliver whatever justice the legal system can provide. But for Alissa and Rye Strand, justice will never be enough. Because no verdict can bring back the little girl who should be here to comfort her crying sister. No sentence can restore the future that was stolen in those final, terrible hours.

All that remains now are memories, a mother’s strength, a little sister’s enduring love, and a 47-second video that captures both the beauty and the brutality of what was lost.

“We will see Sissy soon,” Alissa had promised.

For Rye, that promise remains painfully unfulfilled. For the rest of us, it serves as a haunting reminder to hold our children a little tighter, to question every stranger who enters our homes, and to never take for granted the ordinary moments that can so easily become someone’s last.

Athena Strand’s story is not over. It lives on in her mother’s courage, in her sister’s tears, and in the collective outrage of a nation that refuses to forget.

And somewhere, in whatever peace she has found, perhaps Athena is still watching over the little sister who cried so hard for her that she fell asleep from exhaustion — the sister she will never get to hold again in this lifetime, but whose love continues to echo through every tear-stained “I want Sissy.”