While the search for missing D.C. woman Antoinette Forbes stretches into a second week, friends from across the country gathered in Northwest over the weekend to pray for her safe return — and to remind people just how much she is missed.

Those friends spoke with NBC Washington at a vigil for Forbes at National Presbyterian Church on Saturday.

“I think having everyone here from all different parts of the country, every piece of her life, I mean that speaks to who Antoinette is,” said Rachel Clark. “Antoinette is deeply loved.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” Alison Williams said. “I met her when I was 21 years old, and for the last 27 years, there’s been a friend group, five of us, that has gone through marriages, divorces, families growing and we’re very interested in seeing her return to her son.”

In a statement, the Forbes family said:

“Antoinette has been missing since Saturday, September 5. She is a mother, a sister and a friend, and she would not walk away from her son by choice.

Last night Antoinette’s friends and colleagues stood beside each other at National Presbyterian Church. The candles, the prayers, the GoFundMe, the flyers going up across the city, all of it is carrying the family forward right now. Thank you.

We are asking you not to stop. If you were near the 3200 block of Nebraska Avenue NW the weekend of September 4, if you saw Antoinette, if you have doorbell or dashcam footage from those days, please call the Metropolitan Police Department at 202-727-9099 or text 50411. No detail is too small to share.

We want Antoinette home.”

Forbes, who is a single mother of a 10-year-old, is 5’2”, 115 pounds with black hair and brown eyes, and she was last seen on Friday, Sept. 4 at 3 p.m. in the 3200 block of Nebraska Avenue in Northwest D.C.

D.C. police released her photo and details of her last known location on Sept. 8.

According to CNN, her two phones, wallet, laptop, car and dog were all left at her home. The front door was unlocked.

The 53-year-old works as the associate vice president and head of public affairs at Eli Lilly.

“We are deeply concerned for Antoinette and are thinking of her and her family in this uncertain time,” a spokesperson for Eli Lilly said in a statement to CNN. “We hope for her safe return.”

In a statement to WTOP News, Forbes’ colleague Andrew Powaleny, who works at another company, said: “Antoinette is a loving, kind and compassionate woman, and anyone who knows her understands just how special she is. We are all hoping and praying for her safe return and urge anyone with information to please contact D.C. police.”

WTOP has reached out to D.C. police for additional details about the case, but so far have not received a response.

WTOP’s Anna-Lysa Gayle contributed to this report.

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