MIDDLETOWN -- For the second time this week, a pile of candles and stuffed animals amassed on Middletown's Town Green for 7-month-old Aaden Moreno.
On Monday, a few dozen people prayed for the baby's safe return. At Wednesday's vigil, more than 300 people prayed that he would rest in peace after the infant's body was found late Tuesday in the Connecticut river near East Haddam.
Police say Aaden's father threw him in the river, then jumped in himself in an apparent suicide attempt.
The well-attended memorial was plagued by heavy rain at first, so attendees shuffled into the South Congregational Church nearby. Inside, solace came in a reassuring touch, an extra squeeze and tender words that Aaden's aunt read on behalf of the baby's mother, Adrianne Oyola.
"I love you Aaden. I can't show hate or any harsh feelings. My son was the most positive baby and I can't be anything less," the letter by Oyola said.
The sky stopped crying after that message, perhaps a look at the future and Oyola's promise that family friends say she will keep.
"After she had that baby, in school she was so happy. She was a go-getter, she wanted to go back to school just for him," said Ariana Reyes, a family friend who was at the vigil.
Jayed Shaw, another family friend agreed. "She wanted to be something for her son. She still is going to be something for her son because regardless, he's still by her side," Shaw said.
Oyola called Aaden her "guardian angel" in the letter.
More than $16,000 has been raised online for the baby's funeral via this Go Fund Me page.