By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 09:51 EST, 2 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 18:01 EST, 2 March 2014 . The widower of an Staten Island woman murdered while traveling alone in Turkey has remarried his slain wife's childhood friend one year after his tragic loss. Steven Sierra, 41, lost his wife and mother of his two children Sarai Sierra, 33, in January 2013 after a vagrant high from huffing paint thinner bashed her in the head with a rock and beat her to death. On January 23, two days after he visited Sarai's grave with their sons on the anniversary of her death, Sierra married Dulce Arroyo. Scroll down for video... Tragedy: Sarai Sierra, left, was brutally murdered while traveling alone in Instanbul and left her husband Steven, right, and their two young sons behind . Healing: Now Steven has found a new love in his murdered wife's childhood friend Dulce Arroyo. The two married almost a year to the day after Sarai's slaying . 'The Lord showed me that he wants us to move forward,' Sierra told the New York Daily News. 'You have to know in your heart when it’s right.' When Sarai's disappearance first made headlines after she failed to catch a flight home January 21, 2013, it appeared that the wife and mother, who married rather young, was simply sowing her oats late in life. But subsequent reports of tensions in the Sierra household painted a different picture, one in which Sarai was heading to the exotic foreign land to meet a man she'd met online, according to the Daily News. Steven and Sarai's brother David Jimenez traveled to Istanbul and began a frantic search for Sarai, not knowing she was likely already dead. Sarai's face was so badly beaten that Steven had to identify her by the unusually high arch of her foot. But this month, Steven, a bus driver for the New York City Transit Authority, took a huge step towards leaving that horror behind. 'I remember asking Dulce, "Are you ready for this?" And she said immediately with no hesitation, "It would be an honor to raise the sons of my friend Sarai,"' Sierra told the Daily News. Arroyo knew Sarai as a young child and became her close friend shortly after she first married Sierra. She recalls the last time she saw her friend in the the days just before her fated trip. The pair ran into each other at a Staten Island shopping mall. Heading home: A casket carrying the remains of Sierra is prepared to be loaded onto a flight at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey in early 2013 after her body was found in a seedy area of Istanbul . Mourning: Steven Sierra, husband of Sarai Sierra, upper center, and Dennis Jimenez, right, wipe their eyes during her funeral, at the Christian Pentecostal Church in Staten Island . Tough times: Sarai Sierra's sons, Silas in blue shirt, and Sion in orange , are seen being comforted at their mother's wake. Dulce has her own son, Angel and the boys all now live together at the Staten Island home where Sarai once lived . 'Sarai was just great ... an absolute sweetheart,' says Dulce, who grew up on Staten Island with the slain woman . 'I didn’t say anything,' Dulce remembered. 'But I was thinking, "An American woman in Turkey? What are you, crazy?"' Arroyo never saw her old friend again, but remembers her fondly. 'Sarai was just great ... an absolute sweetheart,' says Dulce, whose own son, Angel, is just a little older than Sierra's oldest boy Sion, 13. But is was Sierra's youngest boy, Silas, who clenched the deal for the grieving father. 'I want to know what it’s like to be at the wedding of my father,' Silas told his dad, despite having previously forbidden him from ever marrying again. 'I miss having a mom.' Arroyo had been one of many members of the Sierras' devout Christian community who came forward to help the grieving widower in his time of need. They would not move in together until after their wedding. And even then Arroyo says it was difficult for her to see the home as hers and not Sarai's. 'I see them as my family now,' says Dulce. 'I used to see them as Sarai’s family. Her kids and her husband and her furniture. It’s home now for me.'
Sarai Sierra, 33, was found beaten to death February 2, 2013 in a seedy strip of Istanbul following her solo vacation to the city .
Her husband and father of their two young children Steven Sierra, 41, married Dulce Arroyo two days after the 1st anniversary of her murder .
Sarai was bashed in the head by a vagrant high from huffing paint thinner .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 09:51 EST, 2 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 18:01 EST, 2 March 2014 . The widower of an Staten Island woman murdered while traveling alone in Turkey has remarried his slain wife's childhood friend one year after his tragic loss. Steven Sierra, 41, lost his wife and mother of his two children Sarai Sierra, 33, in January 2013 after a vagrant high from huffing paint thinner bashed her in the head with a rock and beat her to death. On January 23, two days after he visited Sarai's grave with their sons on the anniversary of her death, Sierra married Dulce Arroyo. Scroll down for video... Tragedy: Sarai Sierra, left, was brutally murdered while traveling alone in Instanbul and left her husband Steven, right, and their two young sons behind . Healing: Now Steven has found a new love in his murdered wife's childhood friend Dulce Arroyo. The two married almost a year to the day after Sarai's slaying . 'The Lord showed me that he wants us to move forward,' Sierra told the New York Daily News. 'You have to know in your heart when it’s right.' When Sarai's disappearance first made headlines after she failed to catch a flight home January 21, 2013, it appeared that the wife and mother, who married rather young, was simply sowing her oats late in life. But subsequent reports of tensions in the Sierra household painted a different picture, one in which Sarai was heading to the exotic foreign land to meet a man she'd met online, according to the Daily News. Steven and Sarai's brother David Jimenez traveled to Istanbul and began a frantic search for Sarai, not knowing she was likely already dead. Sarai's face was so badly beaten that Steven had to identify her by the unusually high arch of her foot. But this month, Steven, a bus driver for the New York City Transit Authority, took a huge step towards leaving that horror behind. 'I remember asking Dulce, "Are you ready for this?" And she said immediately with no hesitation, "It would be an honor to raise the sons of my friend Sarai,"' Sierra told the Daily News. Arroyo knew Sarai as a young child and became her close friend shortly after she first married Sierra. She recalls the last time she saw her friend in the the days just before her fated trip. The pair ran into each other at a Staten Island shopping mall. Heading home: A casket carrying the remains of Sierra is prepared to be loaded onto a flight at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey in early 2013 after her body was found in a seedy area of Istanbul . Mourning: Steven Sierra, husband of Sarai Sierra, upper center, and Dennis Jimenez, right, wipe their eyes during her funeral, at the Christian Pentecostal Church in Staten Island . Tough times: Sarai Sierra's sons, Silas in blue shirt, and Sion in orange , are seen being comforted at their mother's wake. Dulce has her own son, Angel and the boys all now live together at the Staten Island home where Sarai once lived . 'Sarai was just great ... an absolute sweetheart,' says Dulce, who grew up on Staten Island with the slain woman . 'I didn’t say anything,' Dulce remembered. 'But I was thinking, "An American woman in Turkey? What are you, crazy?"' Arroyo never saw her old friend again, but remembers her fondly. 'Sarai was just great ... an absolute sweetheart,' says Dulce, whose own son, Angel, is just a little older than Sierra's oldest boy Sion, 13. But is was Sierra's youngest boy, Silas, who clenched the deal for the grieving father. 'I want to know what it’s like to be at the wedding of my father,' Silas told his dad, despite having previously forbidden him from ever marrying again. 'I miss having a mom.' Arroyo had been one of many members of the Sierras' devout Christian community who came forward to help the grieving widower in his time of need. They would not move in together until after their wedding. And even then Arroyo says it was difficult for her to see the home as hers and not Sarai's. 'I see them as my family now,' says Dulce. 'I used to see them as Sarai’s family. Her kids and her husband and her furniture. It’s home now for me.'
Sarai Sierra, 33, in January 2013 after a vagrant high from huffing paint thinner bashed her in the head with a rock and beat her to death. On January 23, two days after he visited Sarai's grave with their sons on the anniversary of her death, Sierra married Dulce Arroyo. Scroll down their two young sons behind . Healing: Now Steven early 2013 after her body was found in a seedy area of Istanbul . Mourning: Steven Sierra,