A large crowd is expected today for the funeral of the 7-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in her apartment complex.

Hundreds gathered in Canton Friday night for a candlelight vigil in Jorelys Rivera’s honor. They walked to the through downtown Canton to the funeral home where Rivera’s family had gathered for a visitation.

When Jorelys’ mom met the crowd the she broke down and cried in Spnaish "Why? Why? My angel."

"God will be there for them," one resident told the family.

"We are walking for this young lady," Missy Hughes told Channel 2 Action News. She walked with a candle during the entire vigil.

Jorelys’ funeral is at 2 p.m. Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Canton. She was mudred last week.  Police say she was grabbed off the playground at the River Ridge Apartment complex, raped, stabbed and beaten with a blunt object until she died. Her body was thrown in a Dumpster and compacted.

Ryan Brunn, 20, did all of that, police said. He was arrested Wednesday and is in jail without bond. Brunn was a groundskeeper at the apartment complex and had no prior record.

But the Canton community would not speak of the suspect during Friday’s vigil.  It was all about the little girl.

"A life cut short by the unfathomable acts of a monster," was how State Rep. Calvin Hill described the crime to the crowd.

The family did not the vigil. But they will see messages from people who never knew Jorelys.  Mourners left their notes on a big board that will soon hang in Jorelys' elementary school

"Everybody is sad, everybody is scared. You don't see no children outside playing anymore. You can't trust anybody," Stacy Wilson commented as she signed the board.