A mother's love is hard to shake.

It's what leads Evelyn Romero every so often to turn her car around when she spots a group of children playing.

She has to see if her son is there.

"I know he's 17 now," said Romero, a mother's love preventing her from speaking of her youngest child, Robbie, in the past tense. "When I see teenagers, it doesn't have the same feeling. I still catch myself looking for him like he's still that little boy."

Monday marked the 10-year anniversary of the last time Evelyn Romero saw her youngest son, who was 7 when he disappeared from his Bellamah neighborhood in south Santa Fe.

Click here for a timeline of the Robbie Romero case

As they have done every year on the anniversary of Robbie's disappearance, the Romero family gathered Monday night for a candlelight vigil at Monica Lucero Park near the family's home.

Monday's gathering brought more than 40 visitors to the park — mostly family and friends, but also a few strangers who just wanted to share their well wishes on the anniversary of Santa Fe's most high-profile missing-person case.

"I think about it being 10 years already and I can't believe how much has happened with our family in that time," said Rudy Romero Jr., 33, the oldest of Robbie's siblings. "Then I can't help but think about that day — I remember everything about that day like it just happened. I can't even begin to think it's already been that long."

A lot has happened with the Romero family since Robbie's disappearance, including the 2002 death of his father, Rudy Romero Sr.; and the 2008 death of his brother, Ronnie Romero, who has long been the primary target of police investigations in the case.

Searches for Robbie, or even his remains, have been futile and the relationship with the Romero family and Santa Fe police quickly grew contentious.

The Romeros felt they were the target of constant police harassment. The family twice filed lawsuits against police. A still-pending suit claims, among other things, that police botched the initial investigation. A second suit was resolved May 27, when a federal jury ruled in favor of Santa Fe police in a harassment case brought by Evelyn Romero and 21-year-old Ricky Romero.

The recently dismissed case stems from a December 2005 incident in which the Romeros claim police tried taking away children from the Romero home shortly before the family testified before a grand jury in January 2006.

Stephen French, the Albuquerque attorney who represented police in the harassment case, was not available for comment Monday.

"It was hard watching what all this did to my dad and how it drove him to his death," Rudy Jr. said. "And it was just as hard watching what my brother (Ronnie) had to go through, too.

"It's not that I'm mad — I think frustrated is the word that can describe the past 10 years. I'm still hopeful he's alive, we all are. But at some point, I just need to know what happened. Before I die, I need to know and I really hope my mom gets that in her lifetime, too."

While police have never wavered from their contention Ronnie was either involved in or had information that would have solved the case — now-retired Capt. Gary Johnson told The New Mexican in 2009 that he "felt strongly that we had enough to arrest Ronnie for this crime" — former 1st Judicial District Attorney Henry Valdez said police never presented his office with sufficient evidence to file charges.

And so, the family remains frustrated but optimistic.

"I don't know if it will change one day," Evelyn Romero said, "but as of right now, I'm still hopeful — I'm hopeful he's still alive. I don't know how that will ever change for me. How does a mom ever give up hope until she knows for sure what happened?"

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com.