SAN DIEGO -- Sunday, Brenda and Damon van Dam and their family marked the one-year anniversary of their 7-year-old daughter Danielle's abduction and murder.

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"It is painful that we still don't know exactly what date Danielle passed from being our sweet daughter to a heavenly angel," the parents said in a written statement released by family spokeswoman Sara Muller Fraunces. "Without knowing that (date), we must mark the day she was taken from us with some special remembrance with our family and friends. We miss her as much today as the first day we lost her."

The family and friends planned a private candlelight vigil for Danielle Sunday evening, Fraunces said.

The van Dams asked people to pray not only for Danielle but for all missing children.

"We must keep looking for each of them until they are brought home to their families," the van Dams said. "This is Danielle's legacy -- strangers helping strangers for the sake of a child."

On the morning of Saturday, Feb. 2, 2002, the van Dams awoke to find Danielle missing from their Sabre Springs home. Following an intensive search involving hundreds of volunteers, her body was found later that month in a remote area about 25 miles east of San Diego.

Neighbor David Westerfield was later arrested for her abduction and murder. He was convicted following a trial that revealed details of the van Dams' "swinging" life style, as well as Westerfield's collection of pornographic pictures, some involving children.

In December, Westerfield was sentenced to death. He is on death row at San Quentin State Prison while his attorneys file appeals that may take years to decide.