They have huddled together in grief and silence for days, shedding their tears behind closed doors. But on Monday night, the family of Brandon Crisp finally emerged in Barrie, coming into the community for a solemn candlelight vigil to remember a little boy with the bright smile lost too soon.
Crisp has become world famous as the youngster who ran away from home on Thanksgiving Day after his parents became concerned about a video game obsession and took away his Xbox. A three week long search for him came to a tragic end last week when his body was
discovered not far from where he disappeared.
An autopsy shows he died from chest injuries consistent with falling from a tree.
The shock of that realization was present Monday night, as his sister and grandmother emerged from a cocoon of grief to attend the special ceremony in the boy's honour, a remembrance filled with tears, tributes and even a few smiles.
As they stood in the cold and gloom of a Barrie night, sister Natasha Crisp (top left) let loose a flood of feelings that the whole town seems to share.
"He's someone who can always crack a smile on your face," she recalls, a choke in her voice. "And being his sister, we would get into our fights and no matter how mad I would try and stay at him he would always make me laugh in the end."
There were few dry eyes as she finished her tribute. "I'm just so proud of him," she concluded. "That he's been able to touch so many people's lives and he was only alive for 15 years. So I just want to put it out there that he is always going to be my hero and I'm just very proud of him."
Balloons were set loose into the darkened sky and a star was dedicated to her brother by some well wishing supporters, so his family will know "that Brandon is always up there watching down on us."
Crisp's grandmother lives in Spain and hadn't seen the youngster in three years, the last time the family had gone for a visit. She's flown in for his funeral and to stand by the grieving parents and siblings, knowing no words can ever offer the comfort they seek.
"They're coping quite well," Jennette Garratt explains about the Crisp family. "Obviously, it's very hard. None of us is sleeping very well but we're keeping together ... and holding each other together."
Garratt has been following the stories about the missing boy over the Internet and prayed it wouldn't end the way it did. She calls the response from the community and the world interest in the case "absolutely amazing," noting, "In spain, they're very family orientated, and here, I've seen it here, too, and it's wonderful."
She also believes her grandson made a huge difference in the short time he was here.
"He's had a wonderful life even though he was only 15," she points out. "He's had a wonderful loving family."
As the ceremony ended, all the participants blew out their candles, knowing they could never extinguish the spirit of the spirited lad who left them all too soon.
His parents were scheduled to hold a press conference on Wednesday but have decided it's simply too much for them and will issue a formal printed statement instead.
The public funeral for Brandon Crisp is expected to draw hundreds of relatives, friends, supporters and total strangers. It will be held in Barrie on Friday.
For more information on times, how to leave a condolence message online and the many unanswered questions that still surround this disturbing case,
click here.