Community Gathers To Remember 6-Year-Old Jadianna Larsen

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Hundreds came together Sunday evening in Oak Park neighborhood to honor the life of six-year-old Jadianna Larson.

The vigil started at 8 p.m. and lasted about an hour here near the playground. It's been a windy evening, but that didn't stop hundreds from trying to light a candle for Jadianna.

It started with a spark, and one by one hundreds of candles were suddenly aglow at McClatchy Park.

A massive crowd of people of all ages came together in the name of Jadianna, whose disappearance and death stunned the community.

MORE: Suspect Arrested, But Questions Remain In Killing Of 6-Year-Old Sacramento Girl

"You know, she's a little girl. Six years old. It was senseless. I'm a mother of five children," Rebecca Person said.

Jessie Ryan, a Sacramento City Unified School District trustee, organized the candlelight vigil. She never met Jadianna, but wanted the girl's family to know the community cares.

Staff and teachers at Bowling Green charter school, where Jadianna was a student, came out in force.

"Recognize the girl. Recognize the life lost," said parent Devon L'ecluse.

It was just this past Thursday that Jadianna's mother's boyfriend, 25-year-old Juan Rivera, reported her missing from their 47th Avenue apartment – saying he'd been taking care of child when he had a medical emergency.

When he came to, he says the girl was gone.

That same day, Jadianna's body was found 90 miles away in Glenn County.

On this night, parents and kids who didn't even know the six-year-old have one message in mind.

"She needs to know that she mattered," said community activist Kevin Clark.

Rivera has been arrested and charged in connection with Jadianna's murder. At this point, he's denying jailhouse interviews, and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department isn't ready to release his photo.