Around 20 people gathered Thursday night for a candlelight vigil for Hunter Slezak, the seven-year-old missing after a Nov. 29 boating incident.

The child was with his father, Michael, and family friend Sam Wooley. They were shrimping off the coast of Dauphin Island when the boat sank. The bodies of Michael Slezak and Wooley were found the next day. The boat has since been recovered, but there is still no sign of Hunter Slezak.

Krystal Olsen of Elberta has been helping in the search for the child. She said she felt led to hold a candlelight vigil for the child and his family.

"The whole community's really mourning," Olsen said. "They can't find him and everybody wants to do something and a lot of people just can't get out and really help with the search. They feel helpless, so it's just something where everybody can kind of come together, put their prayers together, whatever it is, and just try to bring hope to this family."

Among those attending the vigil was April Ashworth of Spanish Fort, who lost her seven-year-old daughter last year.

"My daughter was seven when she passed away and so that immediately hit me like a kick in the stomach because I know what that feeling is when everything is normal and then it's just yanked out from under you," Ashworth explained. 

Ashworth's daughter Julia Grace passed away in 2023 after contracting Eastern equine encephalitis from a mosquito bite. She said she has coped with the tremendous loss by talking to other mothers who have lost a child.

Olsen said she would continue to help search for and pray for Hunter Slezak.

"I mean, I have three babies and they're not babies anymore, but I could not imagine losing my baby and my husband, just like that, in the blink of an eye," Olsen said. "That's like the worst thing ever."

The Mobile County Sheriff's Office is also continuing the search for the child through  Sunday.