Every March 16, Louise Kalluah visits the gravesite of her son, Barway Collins.

“It’s kind of emotional today,” she says quietly. “So, we trying to do everything together and keep his name alive.”

For nine years, a small group has gathered at the Washburn-Glenhaven Memorial Gardens in Crystal.

Nine years to the day since Barway, just 10 years old, was last seen alive.

“It’s not something that’s going to go away,” says Gail Nelson, who comes every year. “It’s always going to be in their hearts. So, we want to remember him.”

Kalluah says her son loved to sing and play soccer.

His disappearance after school from the family apartment triggered a massive search.

“The community was in turmoil,” recalls David Singleton, who lives in the area. “They were sad, probably every emotion you could think of, they had it.”

On April 11, 2015, a group of Boy Scouts found Barway’s body tied with duct tape in the Mississippi River.

For months, Pierre Collins, Barway’s father, denied any wrongdoing.

“I would never do that to my son,” he told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS at the time. “Where we come from, our African culture, we don’t do that to children.”

But after a search of his home, police arrested Collins on second-degree murder charges.

He later confessed and pleaded guilty to killing his son and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

“It’s just hard to believe that a parent would do that to their own child,” Nelson says. “It’s not within my realm of reality.”   

For Kalluah, what happened to Barway is a cautionary tale.

She says she still has trust issues with people.

“You have to take care of your kids,” she declared. “Don’t trust nobody, even the dad. Don’t trust because there are some bad parents that mistreat our children.”

But Kalluah also shared some good news — including plans for a memorial at Becker Park.

The statue renderings show a boy playing.   

Funding for the bronze, life-sized work comes entirely from private donations.

Organizers have raised more than $21,000 and a central Minnesota monument studio is already at work on the project.

“He was taken so young,” Nelson says. “I think it would help his classmates that are now grown up and are about the age of graduating. I think it would help them to have a place to go and remember him.”

It’s hoped the statue will be installed sometime in the summer or early fall.

“For me, I feel happy to see my son’s memory will stay alive,” Kalluah exclaims. “Because if we can do that, it will mean people are still concerned about him.”

She says she hopes one day that an area school will be named after Barway.

“Every time someone looks at that statue, they’re going to know there was a special child that lived on this earth,” Singleton adds. “He meant a lot to people.”