A candlelight vigil was held in Center Moriches Sunday evening to remember the young boy who police say died at the hands of the people who were supposed to be caring for him.

Thomas Valva, 8, died earlier this month after police say his father and his fiancee forced the child to sleep in their garage in freezing temperatures.

Michael Valva and Angela Pollina are now facing murder charges in the boy's death.

"They caused the death of this little boy and then they watched him die," says Suffolk District Attorney Tim Sini. "They showed callousness that I certainly have never seen in my time as a prosecutor or as a police commissioner."

Thomas Valva's mother tells News 12 that she fought for years to get her son and his siblings out of her estranged husband's custody and warned that their lives were in danger.

Community members gathered at Kaler's Pond in Thomas Valva's memory. They came together to make blue ribbons representing child abuse awareness.

A GoFundMe page has been started to benefit Valva's mother.