Vigil held for girl missing from a Rockport beach

ROCKPORT, Mass. (WHDH) -- Holding up candles and holding out hope, friends, family and strangers gathered to support Caleigh Harrison’s family on Friday night.

“All I keep hearing in my head every day is ‘Uncle David, Uncle David,’ that’s what she always says to me,” said David Harrison Jr., Caleigh’s uncle.

The 2.5 year old’s uncle -- the brother of Caleigh’s father -- was the first family member to speak out since the toddler vanished from Long Beach around noon on Thursday.

“We have nothing. Nothing. Not a piece of clothing. Nothing. There’s nothing, yes it hurts,” said Harrison.

Caliegh’s mother told police she turned away briefly to run after a ball and her daughter was gone.

“I have no reason not to believe, no. Kids, I have two. You turn your back. You see it on TV, you read about it, but until you live it, you don’t know,” said Harrison.

Police have focused their search on the water. They sent K9 units to the rocks where the ride rolls in.

“We put a buoy with a weight attached -- approximately the weight of the girl -- in the area where we think she may have gone in, if in fact she went in the water and we’re following the path that buoy’s taken, to follow the tides and the currents. That buoy just ended up in this area -- this rocky area -- a short distance away here,” said David Procopio, Massachusetts state police spokesperson.

After 18 hours on the water, covering 250-square miles, the Coast Guard suspended their search. But many at the vigil are vowing to continue their own.