A crowd of more than 180 people gathered outside Royal Blue Tattoo in the Admiral District in a candlelight vigil to honor West Seattleite Jeremy Peck, whose body washed ashore on Bainbridge Island Jan. 19. Peck had been missing since Dec. 24, 2010. He was 24 years old.

Organized by friends Ben Doty, Cheryl Perry, and Kelly Crisp Irvine in cooperation with Jeremy's uncle John Peck, the event was centered around a makeshift display of photos as people in the crowd hugged, cried and shared memories of their friend. A collection was started to help offset the cost of services required for the final arrangements for Jeremy.

A P.A. system was set up on the sidewalk and a series of people spoke offering their memories.

Doty described some of the history he shared with Peck, their days playing youth basketball, leading to a City League championship and said of Peck, "It was always a whole lot of love every time I would see him. It was always a big old smile and a big hug. (…) I was never disappointed to see Jeremy. He always brought a smile to my face."

Peck's uncle John, who took over as his legal guardian when Peck was 10, said, "Everybody loved Jeremy. It is what it is, a showing of love (…) Everybody knows his demeanor and how cool he was. He didn't deserve to die the way he has. I can't believe the love that has come out here. Everybody that knew Jeremy knows how happy he'd be right now. He'd be so happy to see his friends. These things, in this order were the most important things in his life. His friends, Bobbi Jo (his sister), and me. So that's why he'd be so cool with everybody being here."

In the crowd many of his friends and acquaintances choked back tears as they recalled times in their lives shared with Jeremy. Missy Lynch said, "Jeremy was a great kid. My son and him have been best friends for years. J.P. helped his uncle John coach my son in Basketball. He was always smiling, always happy. I just saw him a few months ago. It's just a tragedy. We've lost a dear, dear friend. It's just very scary to think that something like this can happen here."

Travis McGrath, who went to Fairmount Park Elementary School with Peck had Peck's face tattooed on his left shoulder and said, "I'm a lifelong friend of Jeremy Peck. I've known him since he was about seven years old (…) It's a sad loss. It's a sad loss for everybody."

Ashleigh Peters, who said she was the last person to see him before he disappeared said, "I've been trying to get a hold of a detective to tell him that there's information that needs to be known. They won't call back. I think it will lead to something if he does call back."

Susan Harmon, community activist and owner of the Emerald Spiral on California Avenue said, " We need to stand up for this kid and make sure the evidence needs to start being gathered now."

Several more of Peck's friends spoke, echoing the sadness clearly felt by those gathered for the event.

Cheryl Perry and Kelly Crisp Irvine explained to the crowd that "The cause of death will be determined in 8 to 10 weeks pending further testing. We all need to just be patient and let the Medical Examiner do their job."

The comments were followed by 60 seconds of silence for Jeremy.

Finally an announcement was made asking people to donate to help the Peck family at any Wells Fargo Bank or through a special page set up on Facebook for the purpose. The goal is $2000 and at the time of the publication of this story, more than $250 had been raised. A fundraiser was also announced to take place at the Chelan Cafe Sunday, January, 30 from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm which they called a "Jello Shot Party".

Doty closed the event by saying, " This isn't the end, we are going to keep going. We want to make sure we figure out what really happened."