Loved ones of Abdoulaye Cisse say they’re still searching for answers five years after his death.

“Abdoulaye was a very gentle soul,” says Aida Sarr, his aunt. “Just very respectful, caring.”

“Today’s a very somber moment,” adds Pa Modou Ann, a family friend. “A very sad day.”

Ann was among those attending a vigil Wednesday in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood to honor Cisse’s life.

The National Guard Sergeant was found stabbed to death near the corner of Seventh Street and Fifth Avenue, SE, exactly five years ago.

It was his 27^th birthday.

“I do actually remember waking up in the middle of the night from like police cars and sirens from the ambulance,” recalls Lillian Evans, whose front stoop is just feet from where Cisse was killed. “After hearing that someone was stabbed to death in the neighborhood I’ve grown up in, and I’ve always thought of it as a peaceful place, it’s kind of changed my perspective on the world.”

Police have not released much information about the case.

But family members believe Cisse was walking home around 4:30 in the morning, when he encountered someone vandalizing a vehicle on the street.

“He came across someone and tried to stop him because no one was there, and he stabbed him,” Ann explains.

“He will always be the first one to jump in and say hey, what’s going on,” notes Samba Fall, a family friend. “He will always investigate.”

Neighbors say around the time of Cisse’s killing, there had been a series of car break-ins — someone using a long, sharp instrument.

Evans’ brother told her he saw a similar incident weeks later and called police.

“Because this person was dressed in a dark hoodie and breaking into a car with a sharp screwdriver,” she says. “My brother walked by him.”

In the years since, there have been safety walks.

The family has passed out leaflets, asking for help.

But so far, there’ve been no suspects or arrests in the case.

Police say they have evidence in the case and are hoping for a break to link that evidence with a suspect.

“I believe someone who knows something will come forward one day,” Ann says. “Whatever the reason, the family wants the truth.”

The family says Cisse had dreams of becoming a linguist or translator— that he was fluent in French, Mandarin Chinese, and Wolof, a language from his parents’ home in Senegal.

A sign with his name and several bouquets of flowers now sit near the crime scene.

The letters may be faded, but the memories remain.

Sarr says the passage of time hasn’t helped much.

“People have the tendency to say that you’ll get over it or you’ll forget,” she says. “But you never forget.”