Sadie Alvarado’s dream was to become a pediatric nurse.

She held an associate’s degree and was enrolled in a nursing program when her body was discovered on a gravel road Sunday in Lee County, Iowa.

“I am very devastated,” said Brandy Martinez, Sadie’s mother.

“She was my only child. My best friend.”

Martinez describes her daughter as having a “heart of gold” and as someone who would help anybody in need.

“She had a laugh and a smile to brighten up a room.”

Boyfriend Damian Hamann, 28, of Morning Sun, Iowa, is now charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in a death in connection to Sadie’s case.

When news broke that the body of Alvarado, 20, had been found, her identity was not immediately released.

This prompted investigators and media outlets to report – because the question was unavoidable – that the body was not that of Mollie Tibbetts, the missing 20-year-old University of Iowa student whose case has received heavy media attention.

Sadie’s friends and family took to Facebook Monday to remind the public that the end of Sadie’s life is significant because of who she was, not simply because of who she was not.

“She was a very smart, funny and beautiful young lady who would’ve turned 21 on September 25,” Martinez told KWQC.

“Sadie was full of life with a whole life ahead of her.”