(CNN) Hours after a man was charged in connection with Hania Aguilar's kidnapping and killing, the popular North Carolina teenager was remembered Saturday as a loving daughter and friend during a funeral service at her middle school's gymnasium.

Hundreds gathered around Hania's white casket at Lumberton Junior High School, where her mother, Celsa Maribel Hernandez, recalled the last time she held her hand. Moments later, as Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years" began to play, she remembered the many times they cried together while listening to Hania's favorite song.

A letter was read from the 13-year-old's father, Noé Aguilar, who was denied a temporary visa to travel from Guatemala for her funeral.

"You were and you are my treasure," he wrote. "Rest in peace daughter, my gorgeous princess. ... You were gone before me, my gorgeous princess."

Suspect was in custody on unrelated charges

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