Everywhere you look there are reminders of the heartache Wise County is feeling.
Pink ribbons and balloons are tied to front porches and shops.
"It is so hard for our small-knit community for us to wrap our minds around what's happened to little Athena and her family," said business owner Sandy Lambert.
Athena Strand, 7, was found murdered last week after an Amber Alert. The Wise County Sheriff said a delivery driver confessed to kidnapping and killing the child.
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"When you live in a little town like this you don't think that this could ever happen here and it's happened here and it's changed the way we're going to live life moving forward," Lambert said.
Across Wise County on Monday people responded in big and small ways.
Staff and students at several districts dressed in Athena's favorite color.
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Bikers from across North Texas took a ride in her honor to raise money for the family.
Dressed in pink shirts or bandanas they traveled from Argyle to the elementary school she attended in Paradise.
"I did it for Athena to show respect to her," said Francis Chamberlin who organized the ride.
Megan Muska, a mother of two, came to ride and show her support.
"We're all family, really. We really are," said Muska. "It doesn't matter who you are if somebody is in trouble you need to take care of them."
In postings on social media, Athena's family said they are grateful for the support and the many vigils happening in her honor.
"Let the light she brought into this world continue to grow brighter in her name," Athen's mother, Maitlyn Presley Gandy, wrote on Facebook.
