More than 200 people gathered at North Trail Park Tuesday night to show support for missing University of Florida teenager Christian Aguilar.
The attendees, many of them teenagers themselves, lit candles to keep hope alive for their former classmate.
"I need all of you to pray and remember to have faith he'll show up," Geisy Gonzalez, one of the organizers, said to the crowd.
The Doral Academy firebirds tried to brighten up what has otherwise been a dark couple of days since Aguilar went missing in Gainesville.
"This is one of the last pictures we had together,” Sasha Santti showed NBC 6 South Florida. “It was exciting because it was the end of our path and the beginning of a new one."
Those who celebrated graduation day with him last spring never expected his college career to start like this. Aguilar moved to Gainesville in the summer to study biomedical engineering at UF. He has dreams of becoming a cardiologist.
“I get goose bumps to see everybody," said Christian Oquendo, a friend of the missing teenager's brother. "This is surreal."
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Relatives of the missing teen said the pain gets worse with every passing day.
"I don't know if he's alive or not, I just hope that he's alive,” his cousin Luz Losada said.
She has been working to get police crews from Miami-Dade to Gainesville, especially after she said Gainesville Police received an anonymous tip to search nearby waterways.
Plenty of locals at the vigil were ready and willing to help. A trip Tuesday to assist in the search was rescheduled for 11 p.m. Wednesday.
"No matter what happens, we can't lose faith because we’re coming for Chris," a student said.
