The town of Saginaw is coming together for a tribute to slain 6-year-old Alanna Gallagher, the girl whose body was found bound and wrapped in a tarp in Saginaw on Monday.
Residents plan to wear either purple ribbons or clothing this weekend in memory of Gallagher, whose favorite color was purple.
Some residents tied purple ribbons around their trees.
One resident even petitioned local businesses to join in. Wal-Mart, Albertson's, Sonic and Country Acres day care will join the tribute, according to the Saginaw Texas News' Facebook page.
Mendi Preston, executive director of Country Acres, said the day car would hand out ribbons on Monday to staff and parents and wear them all next week.
"Although she wasn’t a member of our school, she was a member of our community," she said. "And we want to show our support not only of family, but any of the children or parents or even the teachers here locally that were affected by this tragedy."
The day care sits not far from both where Gallagher lived and where her body was found. Preston said the slaying affected her personally, not only because her day care has many students Gallagher's age, but because she has an 8-year-old daughter.
"She was really concerned about it," Preston said. "We went over and placed a bear over at the memorial as well. It really reminded us to emphasize to her to be careful when you're outside and pay attention to close surroundings, never be out there by yourself, and make sure we're out there with you."
The memorial where the 6-year-old's body was found continues to grow. Nancy Moreno, who lives a block away from Gallagher, brought her young daughter to drop off a small teddy bear.
"We feel so bad for Alanna," Moreno said. "She was in same school as she. She was asking, 'Why?' I just decided to bring her so she could see how much people care."
The Saginaw Police Department, the FBI and the North Texas Major Case Investigative Team are working to solve Gallagher's slaying.
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Gallagher's cause of death has not yet been determined, and investigators are still trying to establish a timeline of what led up to her death.
On Friday, officers were back in her Saginaw neighborhood, interviewing neighbors. Investigators left a home two doors down from Gallagher's home with a brown paper bag similar to what police use to collect evidence. However, it's unclear why they were there or if it was related to Gallagher's killing.
Gallagher's father said the family is devastated and not ready to talk to the media.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Gallagher's death. Anyone with information is asked to call 682-888-3682 or 682-888-3684.
NBC 5's Chris Van Horne and Jeff Smith contributed to this report.
