Remembering Jeno: Candlelight vigil held for Jefferson Hills teen

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

Jeno Moretti loved to smile.

And the 15-year-old from the Jefferson Hills area passionately believed that making other people smile was a way to make their lives better, according to his adoptive mother, Lisa Karner.

Dozens of Jeno’s family members, friends, classmates, neighbors and Mon Valley residents who never knew him joined firefighters, rescue crew members and police officers from Elizabeth Borough and Elizabeth Township under the Elizabeth Bridge Monday evening for a candlelight vigil. 

Wearing T-shirts bearing his photo and the hashtags #BRINGJENOHOME and #JENOISHOME, they paid tribute to Jeno’s memory and hoped to spread awareness about suicide, the effects adoption can have on a child and the dangers of cyberbullying.

Jeno, who was a sophomore at Thomas Jefferson High School, was reported missing in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. 

After extensive searches by Elizabeth Borough police, other area first responders and rescue and dive crews from near and far — which lasted for several days —  his body was recovered from the Monongahela River near the Elizabeth Bridge Friday afternoon by divers from the Charles County Dive Rescue team out of Maryland, according to police and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Jeno’s family and friends remained on scene at the Mon River’s banks in Elizabeth each day as crews continued the search. Karner told area reporters that Jeno was being bullied online prior to going missing.

Since his passing, a makeshift memorial has been set up by Jeno’s loved ones and area residents on a staircase leading to the bridge. Investigators said video surveillance from the area showed Jeno using the staircase on the 200 block of North Second Avenue in Elizabeth the morning of Nov. 22 to access the bridge. 

On Monday, the steps were covered with teddy bears and other stuffed animals, balloons bearing Jeno’s name, candles, ribbons, flowers, a small lighted Christmas tree and more. Yellow suicide awareness ribbons have also been placed on and around the bridge.

“(Jeno) was known as the child that was always smiling,” said Joanne Smith of Jefferson Hills, a former City of Pittsburgh youth commissioner who works in the region to spread awareness about suicide. She, along with Karner, led the vigil Monday night.

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