GREENWICH, N.Y. (NEWS10) — It has been 12 years since Jaliek Rainwalker, a 12-year-old boy from Greenwich, disappeared. On Saturday, the community gathered for a vigil in his name.

Greenwich community members who didn’t even know Jaliek RainWalker personally came out to remember him. His former foster mother tells News10 she remembers him as a smart boy with a radiant smile.

“Just a silly boy,” Joy Purdy, Jaliek Rainwalker’s former foster mother told News10, “that’s what I remember the most.”

Rainwalker went missing on November 1, 2007. His adoptive father told police Jaliek had run off from his family home, but what really happened is still unknown.

“He probably was a troubled child, but a good child,” Purdy told News10.

Purdy, who took care of Jaliek when he was a toddler, is grateful the community still comes out to remember him.

“It really warms my heart that all these people just organized it themselves,” Purdy told News10.

Jessica VonGuinness helped organize it. She connected with people on Facebook who still talk about Jaliek’s case.

“I realized that the unrest was shared, and that we all had a goal of peace,” VonGuinness told News10, “because Jaliek deserves that and so does his family and his caring family.”

Jaliek would be an adult today, and his community wants him to know that he still matters to him.

“This signifies a lot for this small town, so I think we can do this for Jaliek. He was radiant. If you look at his pictures, he was bright and beautiful,” VonGuinness said.