MANATEE – Friends and family gathered at the Myakka Family Worship Center to honor the life of 12-year-old Eduardo Posso who was found dead in a motel in Indiana.
“They’re suffering, they have questions, and they have pain and we just try to deal with it as a community,” said Pastor Lynn Howell.
Pastor Howell helped organized the vigil Sunday evening that had more than a hundred people attend. He demands justice for Eduardo who was well loved in the community.
“Eduardo was a good kid, he had a smile that would light up a room. He loved to play soccer he was aggressive and he loved to play and laugh,” said Pastor Howell.
Eduardo’s neighbor Michael Pickarskr says he would often sit outside his front porch and play his guitar while Eduardo juggled and had fun. “He was like a light, he was so much joy and so full of smiles all the time. He was all around a happy soul kid,” said Pickarskr.
Pickarskr says he is asking for justice for Eduardo but the community will continue to uphold his memory and celebrate his life.
“He will be missed, every minute of every day, I’ve been just sitting out there on the porch still picturing him out there juggling and he was loved very.” said Pickarskr.
Pastor Howell says teachers and Eduardo’s family reported the child abuse going on but because of lack of evidence Child Protective Services investigators did not remove the young teen from the home.
“I don’t know what we have to do but I do know there has to be change,” said Pastor Howell. “And I made a resolve to not only the people of this community, not only to the members of this congregation, to my heavenly father that we will do whatever it takes to bring change to the broken system.”