Bench memorializes 12-year-old boy who went missing in Greenwich

Still, the mystery has never been solved and those responsible never brought to justice. That makes it especially painful for family and friends who knew and loved Jaliek — a boy described as a light despite struggling after being taken from his mother at birth and living in foster homes before being adopted.

That’s why the Justice for Jaliek Rainwalker Facebook group, an assembly of more than 5,000 people around the globe, decided to raise about $2,000 to purchase a memorial bench for the boy in the rural Washington County community where he lived. Installed in Gannon Park, a playground across the street from the Greenwich elementary school, the bench provides a joyful and peaceful setting for those who want to remember the child whose whereabouts are not known.

“It means a lot,” said Jessica VonGuinness, one of the group’s founders. “For a child, not to have a place of remembrance, a grave site, a memorial, a ceremony, that just doesn’t sit right for me. …  Having a place was really important. That was somebody’s child, somebody’s sibling.”

The black metal bench features a brass plate that reads “In Memory of/Jaliek Boyd Rainwalker/ Never Forgotten Always Loved.” It includes his birth name, Boyd, as a nod to his birth mother, Pamela Boyd, along with the last name his adopted parents gave him.

“We can only do so much as a group,” VonGuinness said. “But lifting Jaliek up is our intention. Keeping his name in the forefront, I think, will give enough energy for law enforcement to close this case and give us answers and truth, and for the person to be finally prosecuted and put where he…