NASHUA – Brandon Gaudette was the best man at Bradley Yates’ wedding.

But Yates has a very different honored position at a very different ceremony for Gaudette today: He’s one of Gaudette’s pallbearers.

About 100 people gathered in front of the Greeley Park bandstand on Friday night to hold a candlelight vigil for Gaudette, the 21-year-old man who was stabbed to death inside a Ridge Road home Monday evening.

“We’re remembering his life,” said Andrea Elliot, who met Gaudette in church when they were kids. “He was loved by a lot of people.”

“He was just an awesome kid. He had everything going for him,” said Kathy Letendre, Gaudette’s cousin. “He was just a great kid. I miss him. He was a great friend and a great cousin.”

Yates, a 22-year-old Manchester resident, said Gaudette was his best friend and the best man at his wedding. He said he also knows Gaudette’s alleged murderer, Brandon Nye, 19, and Nye’s ex-girlfriend, Erin, who was Gaudette’s girlfriend.

Nye is being held without bail after being arraigned on second-degree murder charges in Nashua District Court on Tuesday.

Gaudette’s friends and family say Nye had a history of making threats, including threats to Gaudette and his girlfriend, Erin Allwood.

Yates said Gaudette’s parents, Christian and Cindy, were like his second family, and he spent half his life sleeping at their house.

“He was my man and I was his,” he said.

Yates and Gaudette used to work out together. Yates’ alarm still rings at 4 a.m. every day, prompting him to call his best friend and get him headed toward the gym.

“I always pick up the phone to call him, start to dial and realize he’s not going to answer,” he said.

There’s still a sense of unreality surrounding Gaudette’s death for several of his friends.

“Even seeing him in the casket, it doesn’t seem real,” vigil organizer Samantha Fernacz said Friday.

“I kept waiting for him to wake up,” Elliot said.

“His life was cut too short,” Lisa Fernacz said. “I think we all think it was a dream.”

The vigil was held after Gaudette’s visiting hours at Davis Funeral Home on Lock Street. The funeral will be today at Faith Baptist Church in Nashua and will be followed by his burial at Woodlawn Cemetery, according to his obituary.

There was a massive turnout at the funeral home, said Gaudette’s uncle, Bill Gaudette.

“I was amazed at the people that came, at the line out the door,” he said. “You can tell by the turnout he was well loved by a lot of people.

“We’re going to miss him dearly. I’m just going to remember all the good things.”

“He was just a really good kid,” said Gaudette’s aunt, Kathy Gaudette. “It’s just sad. You really had to know him to understand.”

Gaudette was born in Lowell, Mass., and graduated from Nashua High School South. He was working for Securitas Security in Chelmsford, Mass., and planned to join the Marines.

He wanted to be a Nashua Police officer, Cindy Gaudette said.

As Yates mourns for Gaudette, he’s left with unanswered questions regarding Nye.

Yates said he was also friends with Nye, though they weren’t close.

“I’ve been to his house, he’s been in my house,” Yates said. “We weren’t the best of friends, but we were acquaintances; we were friends. I still don’t understand how he did this. It’s almost like he did this just to hurt Erin.”

Yates belives Nye’s alleged actions were driven by emotion.

“It was jealousy; 100 percent, it was jealousy,” Yates said.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com. Cameron Kittle can be reached at 594-6523 or ckittle@nashuatelegraph.com.