Friday marked the somber one-year remembrance of a Seffner man being killed when a sinkhole opened under his home.

Family and friends gathered at an emotional candlelight vigil Friday night to remember Jeffrey Bush.  He was swallowed alive by the 50-foot sinkhole as he slept in his bedroom at the home on Faithway Drive.

Crews spent hours searching for the then 37-year-old in the rubble of the home but his body was never recovered.

On Friday night, his family and friends came to pay their respects and honor their loved one.

It is particularly hard for Jeremy Bush.  He ran into his brother’s room moments after he heard the sinkhole begin to open up.  When he turned on the bedroom light, all he could see was the hole and all of the dirt.

He jumped in to save his brother but moments later, he, too, found himself being swallowed by the sinkhole.

A deputy called to the scene grabbed Jeremy’s wrists and pulled him to safety.

On Friday night, Jeremy shared his feelings about his terrible loss.

"Unless you go through it, I guess, it's hard to explain how you're feeling," Bush said.  "Remembering my brother by the good times we had together."

Jeremy said the loss of his brother has been particularly tough on their mother.

"My mom's hurting really bad,” Bush said.  “She had to bury one of her own kids.  She's hurting.  This is hard for my mom to deal with."

On Friday night, Jeremy held his mother tight as other family members and friends held candles.  They hugged and consoled one another as some of them sat in front of the fence with a vacant lot behind them where the home once stood.

Jeffrey Bush’s body is still buried in the ground behind it and it is that chain-link fence that sits between him and his loved ones.

"It's as close as we can get to him.  We didn't have no proper burial or nothing for him and it really hurts," Bush said as he began to cry.

Three homes eventually were demolished due to the sinkhole.

Under a proposal from Hillsborough County, the owners of the land surrounding the sinkhole will transfer ownership to the county.

The county will then fortify the land, plant trees and shrubs and install a sidewalk.