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Shantay Leann Huntington finally got her prom dress.

It is light pink with sequins and rosebuds delicately sewn onto the shimmery fabric; a matching, sheer pink scarf will cover her arms.

“I don’t know if it’ll be an open or closed casket,” her mother, Margaret Leyba, said as she picked out the dress Wednesday at Aurora Mall. “It doesn’t matter. She’ll look pretty anyway.”

Huntington’s body was found May 23 wrapped in a sheet and lying in a wooded lot in Loxahatchee, Fla. – 17 miles west of Palm Beach – less than a month after moving to Miami with a new boyfriend as the pair searched for a fresh start to their lives.

The 18-year-old Aurora woman was identified this week, confirming fears the family harbored for weeks and beginning a new odyssey to find out why she died and who killed her.

Palm Beach County authorities said Wednesday that they already have several people of interest in the homicide investigation, and that Huntington’s 29-year-old boyfriend, Tyree Banks, is assisting detectives.

Authorities would not go into details of their work and declined to say whether Banks is a suspect. Banks, who has a lengthy arrest record including a drug-related conviction, could not be reached for comment.

“We’re still trying to do a rundown of events and find out when people last saw her,” said Palm Beach sheriff’s Det. Robert Bennett. “It’s still very early.”

Leyba said she pleaded with her daughter to stay in Colorado, but Shantay had plans.

After dropping out of Overland High School, her mother said, Shantay wanted to start anew in Miami and eventually study to become a professional hairdresser with her own shop.

“I couldn’t stop her,” Leyba, 44, said. “She was so excited.”

Though Shantay called frequently to update her mother and two brothers on her life – sometimes complaining about the heat and the sand that got in her hair – the messages abruptly stopped last month.

Shantay’s family repeatedly tried to contact her, then in desperation, posted a message on the online board Craigslist asking if anyone had seen her. They later flew to Miami and handed out fliers.

A message was in the family’s inbox when they returned. An unidentified woman’s body was found north of Miami, it said.

The woman had a blue and silver belly ring and a butterfly tattoo on her back, just like Shantay.

“I knew it was her,” Leyba said. “It’s been hard ever since.”

A funeral is scheduled Saturday, though the time and place have yet to be determined.

Leyba now must find comfort in memories of Shantay styling hair; of returning from her late-night shift as a phlebotomist at a hospital, then cuddling in bed with her daughter for hours as they watched cartoons; of walking Aurora Mall together, “picking out all the cute boys.”

But on Wednesday, it was only her at the mall.

“It doesn’t feel right,” Leyba said.

She picked out the prettiest pink dress because her daughter left school before she could go to the prom. Shantay always intended to return, her mother said, because “she knew she couldn’t open up a salon if she couldn’t count that money.”

Maybe Shantay’s journey to Miami was the one that would have put her on a path to success, her mother wondered. Certainly, she said, it was a new beginning for her little girl.

Now, Leyba is the one starting over.

Shantay “wanted to explore, to travel, and now I just lie in bed and miss her,” Leyba said. “My poor baby.”