A deflated balloon hanging from a tree. A cross surrounded by flowers and stuffed animals. An excavator parked in an open field.

The search for 12-year-old Bryan Vasquez had been over for more than a week by Tuesday morning, but the physical reminders were still present in the New Orleans East neighborhood of Village De L'Est. The emotional scars were still there, too.

Out for a morning walk on the Michoud Boulevard neutral ground, just about a block from where Bryan was found dead on Aug. 26, Karen Glapion said this is how things normally are in the area: quiet. Nothing like the last few weeks, when hoards of volunteers and law enforcement swarmed the streets and nearby waterways in search of Bryan, then gathered again to mourn the discovery of his body in a lagoon 12 days later.

Glapi

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