Searchers gather once more, this time to remember Barway Collins
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Barway Collins' body was found more than a week ago, but Sunday afternoon the searchers gathered once more.
About 350 people met in Crystal, Minn., to remember the 10-year-old boy many of them had tried to help find. He went missing March 18, and his body was found last week.
The searchers gathered near that spot, in North Mississippi Regional Park, where last week the boy's body was pulled from the river. They sang songs and dropped white roses into the water.
Tammy Keiser VanGrinsven's daughter, Kaia, went to school with Barway. She was one of his close friends.
"Kaia says that Barway was a great friend," VanGrinsven told the crowd. "He was sweet, kind, and really funny. I miss Barway, but as my cousin told me, 'It's not goodbye. It's see you later.'"
Sunday's memorial service was organized by a group that helped search for the boy. His father, Pierre Collins, has been charged with second-degree murder in Barway's death.
"It's very sad," said Vivian Teewia, who took part in the memorial. "It breaks my heart, to be honest. Just a 10-year-old kid. I'm a Liberian myself, so it just kind of affected the entire Liberian community as a whole. Nobody deserves to die, especially a child."
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