KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- In Kenosha Wednesday night, Dec. 3, family and friends gathered outside a burned-out apartment building to remember three young children that were killed in a Thanksgiving-night fire.

Rylee, Connor, and Alena Kannin were killed. Their father was able to get out and survived. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire and are leaving open the possibility it was an accident or arson.

Chelse Meeks is a neighbor and family friend. At the vigil, she said, "I hope that they are at peace and know that they were loved by more than just their family."

In more ways than one, Wednesday's vigil was brutal. Roughly 100 people fought through the conditions and their emotions to remember the happy lives of the children.

Meeks remembered, "Alena, she was the one I remember the most because she was outside and she'd walk around like a cat. Literally she would meow at you."

Gregory Rawls lives two doors down from where the children lived. He told us, "They just loved to play. They were good kids. Every time you'd see them they were building something, making something. Like right now, in the snow, they'd be making snowmen."

But their tragic deaths hung heavy over both friends and strangers.

The children's mother, Jourdan Feasby, went to the vigil but was quickly overcome by emotion and too distraught to speak.

There were children everywhere -friends of the Kannin kids- lighting candles, leaving stuffed animals, and singing "Amazing Grace."

And they have questions that don't have easy answers.

Meeks said her son is asking "'Why aren't they coming back?' Or he just says he misses them. And having to explain that to a child is kind of hard."

LaQuita Callahan's young son told us quietly he misses his friends.

Callahan told us the children were "Very playful. They used to come over all the time and play with my son. They were kind of like best friends."

Callahan lives next door and called 911 Thanksgiving night when she noticed smoke in her unit.

She said, "I know there was a lot of smoke. Because when I came outside it was heavy, black smoke."

A search warrant says father Joshua Kannin told investigators when he woke up that night and went downstairs, he saw "a little fire on the kitchen floor."

He said he "panicked" and walked out the front door, thinking to himself, "I have to get help."

He said when he opened the door to go back in, the smoke was too thick: "I barely got two steps in and I had to turn back around."

Kenosha Police said the fire is being investigated for the possibility of arson and homicide, and also that it was an accident.

Neighbors and loved ones want answers.

Callahan remembered her first thought was "'Where are the kids?' That was my first instinct. 'Where are the kids?'"

Rawls told us, "I just want to know the whole true story of how it happened."

And Meeks said, "Nobody knows what started the fire."

After the fire, Kenosha Police seized Joshua Kannin's phone to gather forensic data. On Wednesday police said the search did not find any evidence of criminal activity related to the fire.