Candlelight vigil remembers alleged child abuse victim Caiden Henry

The family and friends of baby Caiden Henry gathered Friday evening with strangers near the Big Red Wagon in Riverfront Park to pray, cry and comfort each other.

Caiden was found dead last week when he was just shy of turning 10 months old. The child’s babysitter, 28-year-old Joshua J. Mobley, is accused of killing him. He has since posted bond and been released from jail.

Family friend Angela Jones said the family wanted to organize the candlelight vigil because it is too easy to get lost in the darkness of tragedy.

“We’ve got to figure out how to move forward and heal,” she said. “We also want justice for Caiden.”

She described Caiden as happy, bubbly and angelic. “They lost a piece of life, a child,” she said. “A child who couldn’t fend for himself.”

When Jones addressed those gathered, she spoke of the need to make sure that what happened to Caiden doesn’t happen to another child.

“He was a happy child and that’s what we want to remember,” she said. “Tonight is about keeping that light. Tonight is not about rage. That’s not what will help this family.”

Caiden’s aunt, Kitara Johnson, said she has been watching her sister, Crystal Henry, suffer after the baby’s death.

“For those who are asking how my sister is doing, she’s not doing well,” she said.

People have been criticizing Henry for leaving her son with a babysitter while she worked. But Henry thought she had found someone she could trust, someone who had young children of his own, Johnson said.

“No one should ever put hands on a baby, so innocent,” she said.

Amy Vega, executive director of the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, said child abuse deaths have been too frequent.

“We can no longer accept this,” she said. “There are solutions out there.”

Jones urged the gathered crowd of about 70 people to do what they could to help abused children.

“It’s going to take a village to end the type of thing that happened to Caiden,” she said. “What will you do? What will be your role? In your own way, you’ve got to figure out how you rise up.”

The Rev. Andre Dove, of Restoration Church, prayed that God would comfort Caiden’s family and friends.

“We ask God why,” he said. “Sometimes those questions are not answered here.”