Flames danced in the hands of mourners who filled the Reitz Union Amphitheater on Saturday night for a candlelight vigil in honor of 21-year-old Saleha Huuda, a UF student who was found dead Dec. 30.
The event was coordinated by the UF Center for Student Activities and Involvement and a number of groups Huuda participated in, including the UF Competitive Cheerleading squad and the African Student Union.
“It was an amazing experience,” said Simona Days, a 21-year-old Santa Fe College student who knew Huuda for 11 years and was one of at least 200 people in attendance. “It just reminded me of what a good friend she was, and it’s amazing to know she touched so many lives.”
Huuda’s friends and family stood behind a lectern at the front of the amphitheater, recounting their memories and sometimes tearfully sharing stories about Huuda.
“She was loved and she was most definitely cared for,” said Danielle Agyemang, one of Huuda’s cousins who spoke at the event. “Our memories will most definitely live on in our hearts.”
Huuda’s immediate family was represented at the event by Dr. James Essegbey, a UF linguistics professor who said the family was very appreciative of the support it has received from the community.
Katilia Hall, who worked closely with Huuda during their time at Fort Clarke Middle School’s Teen Zone after-school program from 2008 through 2009, recounted the day when Huuda found out Hall had no daughters.
Huuda offered to be a daughter to her that day, and from then on would refer to Hall as “mama.”
“I thought of her as my beautiful butterfly,” Hall said. “And now she’s flying away beautifully.”
As a counter to the event’s somber tone, an African drum circle formed following its completion, and those who attended were asked to partake in one of Huuda’s favorite activities — dancing.
Uchenna Echeazu, who worked with Huuda as a choreographer for the African Student Union, said that she was an energetic, upbeat woman, the type of person who would have preferred the dancing to the mourning.
“She reminded us that regardless of where we go in life, we can always be a kid again,” Echeazu said.
Huuda’s body was found after firefighters extinguished a brush fire off of county Road 225, a half-mile north of the Gainesville Raceway.
Alachua County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Art Forgey said the medical examiner is still working to determine a cause of death, but the expectation is that the examiner will find she was murdered.
There are no suspects in the case, though investigators have been actively interviewing people in hopes to make a breakthrough in the case.
Those with information relating to Huuda are urged to call the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office at 352-955-1818 or Crime Stoppers at 352-372-STOP.
