Caretaker Lars Helldén, 57, helped with the search for the missing three-year-old in Ljusne.
The day ended in the worst possible way – he went and left a flower at a memorial site with his own three-year-old.
– Dad, is the boy in heaven now?
When local police officer Mikael Hedström met the journalists shortly after lunch on Thursday, he took off his police hat and held it to his chest.
– I have a rather tragic message, and that is that we have found the boy – but unfortunately not alive.
It had then been 19 hours since the three-year-old disappeared from his home in Ljusne on Wednesday afternoon. The police were quick to launch the search operation – which would soon be expanded. After a long, rainy night, police helicopters and dogs, divers, the Home Guard, the mountain rescue, the sea rescue and civil society were involved.
All with different skills, but with the same goal, that the three-year-old would be found alive.
One of them was Lars Helldén, 57, who works as a caretaker in the village. Together with his colleagues, he helped with logistics for food and housing for everyone who applied.
– You do everything you can. I thought what can I contribute, where can I look? Do I know of a place that no one else knows – can he be there?
Lighted candles to honor
The day ended in the worst possible way. The lifeguard found the boy lifeless in the river a few hundred meters from the home. At present, there is no suspicion that a crime was behind the death.
– The thoughts go to the parents and the family, of course. It is the last thing you want to happen, you always hope for the best, says Lars Helldén.
In the evening, Lars decided to take his wife Cecilia and his children to the water. Near the place where the boy was found are flowers and some candles have been lit.
His daughter the same age, only three years old.
– Of course you start thinking, that’s it. It could just as easily have been us who were involved in an accident. It goes so fast when it comes to small children, says Lars.
Together, the family lit a candle, left roses and a small teddy bear. They talked about what had happened, and the children asked questions that only children could ask.
– Dad, is he in heaven now? says Yolanda, 3.
The answer is that he is. Together, the family goes up to the car to drive home.
– It’s so unfair. I’ve lived a part of my life. If you are three years old, you do not have it. You have just started, says Lars.