GILBERT, Ariz. -- A 21-year-old woman whose parents and three siblings died in a plane crash was comforted by Gilbert residents at a candlelight vigil Friday night.

Neighbors in Val Vista Lakes closed off Tradewind Drive to gather for the ceremony to aid Melissa Pitts. Her five family members died June 29 when a single-engine airplane crashed just after takeoff from the Santa Rosa airport in eastern New Mexico.

Pitts lost her father, Ules Jr., 42; her mother, Marian, 41; and her siblings, Jessica, 18; Jennifer, 16, and Jeremy, 13. The family was heading to Chicago to visit family.

"I was going to go, that's the weirdest thing," Pitts said. "I wanted to go so bad."

Pitts said she stayed behind because she couldn't get off work.

"It just didn't work out and I decided at the last minute that I couldn't go," she said. "There's a reason I'm here I guess, but it's definitely heartbreaking to know that I wasn't with them because I'd much rather be."

SHe said her dad loved flying and had been a pilot for years.

Friends and neighbors are also devastated, especially the Repenning family. Their son was invited to go on the trip, but couldn't get off work either.

"I have a huge hole in my heart," said Lisa Repenning, a family friend.

Pitts said her younger sister Jessica had just graduated from Gilbert High School and was looking forward to college in the fall. She also said her younger sister Jennifer celebrated her 16th birthday just last Wednesday.

"She just got her permit, so she was all excited," Pitts said. "She hadn't been able to drive yet, my dad wouldn't let her, until they got home."

Pitts said Jeremy was your typical younger brother. "He was just awesome, so funny," she said.

But it's the loss of her mother Marian that Melissa said hurts the most. "I don't feel like she's gone. I feel like she's with me still."

Investigators said they do not know what caused the plane to go down.

Jason Aguilera, the NTSA investigator in charge, said the Santa Rosa airport was the first fuel stop investigators have found, and they don't know where the plane planned to stop next.

The Cessna 206 took off about 1 p.m. from the Route 66 Airport at Santa Rosa and crashed almost immediately, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said.

Santa Rosa police Lt. Jesus Roybal said the airplane crashed in a field, 274 yards from the runway.

Witnesses said the pilot did a left bank after takeoff, and turned about 180 degrees before the plane crashed.