(NewsNation) — Bryan Vladek Hasel should be celebrating his 27th birthday with his loving family in Florida on Saturday, but instead, his seven siblings and father are marking another year without him.

On a Saturday night at the University of Central Florida, students gathered, not for weekend revelry, but for a vigil at the reflecting pond in honor of Hasel.

Student journalist Izabella Siwik covered the solemn gathering, marking four years since Hasel disappeared in that exact area.

“He was close to a university, I go to that university as well,” Siwik said. “So knowing that we could have crossed paths one day and not being able to is just really off-putting.”

Bryan Hasel disappeared after coffee shop encounter

NewsNation’s Brian Entin was investigating just months after Hasel disappeared in November of 2021. He traveled to the apartment Hasel shared with his father near the UCF campus, visiting the coffee shop the former Marine always went to.

That coffee shop was where police were called on Nov. 6, 2021. Hasel’s family reports that two days earlier, a customer accused Hasel of having a pocket knife on the table.

Hasel was told not to come back.

Body camera footage showed Hasel reacting calmly throughout the entire interaction with law enforcement.

It’s the last verified sighting of Hasel, who walked away and was never seen again.

Bryan Hasel previously dealt with depression

“My first thought was he had a mental breakdown because of what happened in the coffee shop and his level of depression to start with,” said his father, Steve Hasel. “And maybe he went off into the woods, like he one time thought of doing, and just stayed there.”

Bryan Hasel was honorably discharged from the Marines, and his family reports that he struggled with depression that ties back to his adoption, at age five, from a Russian orphanage.

Family passes milestones without Bryan Hasel

“I still can’t believe so much time has passed and there’s been no leads or sightings yet,” said sister Bethany Hasel.

She had to get married without her brother there to see her big day.

Among those in attendance at her wedding were victims’ advocates from “Light the Way Missing Persons Project,” the Gaby Petito Foundation and several other organizations, who came to support the bride.

Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, said she uses the platform created after her daughter’s death to support others grappling with the pain of a missing loved one.

“We have Gabby’s platform, and when I see families suffering from ambiguous losstl ike this, it breaks my heart, because we have resolution. We know what happened, and so many families don’t,” she said. “So I just saw the passion in her heart, and she was just so sad and desperate, and I wanted to be there for her, and we became very good friends.”

From the yearly vigil to donating to Bryan Hasel’s favorite charities, the family’s efforts to find him have been extensive.

“It took a long time to get there, but I’m just trying to find balance between still living my life, but never going to stop fighting for him, never,” Bethany Hasel said.

The search for Bryan Hasel continues

As the search has continued, strangers have become part of the Hasel family’s army, including the young journalist who feels deeply about her role in trying to bring a young man home.

“This is very touching. I mean, you really get to feel the emotions they’re going through and the pain that they’re going through, and you just want to help,” Siwik said.

In a statement, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office stated that they have utilized patrol deputies, their emergency response team, aviation units, drone operators and bloodhounds in the search for Bryan Hasel.

The department said they want nothing more than to find Hasel and bring answers to his family.