The community will come together Wednesday at a vigil to mourn a 7-month-old baby boy found dead in the Connecticut River.
Authorities pulled 7-month-old Aaden Moreno's body from the Connecticut River in East Haddam Tuesday after searching nearly 48 hours for him. Police said father Tony Moreno had Aaden with him when he jumped off the Arrigoni Bridge into the river in Middletown in a suicide attempt late Sunday night. Aaden is believed to have disappeared into the water that night.
Search crews found him about 15 miles from where police rescued his father, who has been upgraded from critical to stable condition at the hospital where he now remains.
The City of Middletown will host a vigil Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. at the South Green in honor of Aaden, according to Middletown Mayor Daniel Drew.
The community has put together a makeshift memorial with candles near the gazebo on the green to remember Aaden.
A GoFundMe page, "Help Lay Baby Aaden Moreno To Rest", has also been set up by friends of Aaden's mother to help her pay for the baby's funeral expenses. As of Wednesday morning, the page had raised over $1,000.
Police said they retrieved the body near the East Haddam Swing Bridge around 8 p.m. Tuesday.
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First responders rescued Moreno Sunday but failed to find the child.
"Our thoughts are with Aaden and his family at this time of sorrow," Middletown police said in a statement Tuesday night.
Aaden's mother had feared for the child's safety and wrote in a court statement that Moreno had told her he could make her or her child disappear at any time. She filed a restraining order against Moreno that would have prohibited him from coming within 100 yards of her and their baby, but a judge denied the request on June 29. Six days later, Moreno jumped off the bridge and Aaden disappeared. It's unclear why the restraining order was denied.
Moreno has not been arrested but police said they plan to file charges and could do so as early as Wednesday. It's not clear if Moreno has an attorney.
