UPDATE: Friday 3:45 PM EST

A memorial service for Lu Lingzi will be held on Monday, April 22, in Boston. Her family, which has remained silent until now, has released a letter to the public about the daughter they lost.

We are grieving and at a loss for words to describe the pain and sadness we are experiencing following the sudden passing of our dear daughter, Lingzi. She was the joy of our lives. She was a bright and wonderful child. We were thrilled to watch her grow into an intelligent and beautiful young woman. She was a positive role model for many others. It has always been her dream to come to America to study. While she was here, she fell in love with Boston and its people. She loved her new friends and her professors at Boston University. She wanted to play a role in international business, specializing in applied mathematics. She has been studying very hard toward her goal. Sadly, it was not to be. While her dream has not been realized, we want to encourage others who have Lingzi’s ambition and dreams, and want to make the world a better place, to continue moving forward. We are grateful and thankful for the assistance we have received from the Chinese government, the U.S. State Department, Boston Police Department, Boston University, and so many others. Your kindness will always be in our thoughts and memories of how you reached out selflessly to us during the darkest hour of our lives. We understand the work of the media, too, and ask them to please respect our wish for privacy at this difficult time.

To read the rest of the letter, click here.

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Her dream was to come to America to get a better education. She was a stellar student, pursuing her graduate degree in Mathematics and Statistics.

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And the one day Lu Lingzi took to focus on having fun with her friends turned deadly. The Chinese graduate student at Boston University is now being identified as the third fatality in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Lu’s name was released by the Shenyang Evening News on its Twitter account. Her father confirmed her death.

Lu, 23, and her two friends were watching the race near the finish line when the pressure cooker bombs detonated. One of those friends, Zhou Danling, was seriously injured in the blasts. She is in stable condition at Boston Medical Center.

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Lu, a native of Shenyang, China, did not make it.

“Coming to America to study was her dream. She was living her dream,” said friend Li Luquan.

And now, because of a senseless act of terror, Lu’s dream was cut short.

May she rest in peace.

SOURCE: AP