• 

Dylan Robert Bjorkman

September 24, 1995 – September 7, 1998

September 7, 1998… It was Labor Day and a very lazy day. We were celebrating Dylan’s sister’s 12th birthday and had about 10 to 15 kids at our house. The kids were playing outside and had been in and out all day long.

Dylan had been sick earlier in the day and I didn’t want him to go outside, but he begged his dad and I to go to play with his sisters. We let him. This is a decision that I have regretted for 12 years.

Dylan had come in and out of the house several times with his sisters. The last time he came in he was alone and asked for a Popsicle. I gave Dylan a Popsicle and he went back outside to play after we did our normal, “I love you. No, I love you more.”

I told Dylan, “I love you more than the whole universe!”

Dylan replied, “I love you from heaven and beyond!”

Those were the last words out of my son’s mouth.

I had heard about 5 little girls dying in the trunk of their mother’s car so I had been locking my cars because Dylan liked to play inside them. We had gone fishing the day before the birthday celebration and got home really late and I had forgotten to lock the car.

Dylan knew how to get in and out of the cars and loved to play in them. I’m not sure why he wasn’t able to get out that day, other than he found his blanket, it was warm, and he just fell asleep.

Dylan went back outside to play. Twenty minutes later, I sent my 12 year old daughter out to my car to get some corn on the cob so I could start cooking dinner. All of a sudden the most gut retching scream came from my daughter, a scream that I will never forget.

I jumped up and ran to the top of the stairs where I met my daughter and my son. I grabbed Dylan and laid him on the ground. He wasn’t breathing and he was blue. My husband started CPR as I called 911. Then my husband quit. I said, “What are you doing?” He said, “Candi, he is gone.” Those words were not what I wanted to here. I took over CPR until the paramedics got there.

It only took 20 minutes in 86 degree weather for the heat to take Dylan away from us.

The police kicked us out of our house. They had called for life flight to come. As we sat outside waiting to hear what was going on, I heard the police cancel the life flight. They brought my son out and off they went.

It seemed like forever before they would tell me where they had taken him, then a friend of mine called and said I know where they took Dylan, and off we went. When we got there a Chaplin told us to go into a room. The doctor looked at us and in a very cold manner said your son is dead. I couldn’t believe how cold and callus someone could be.

All I could think about was getting to my baby; I just wanted to hold him. When I finally got to him I held him for hours, crying uncontrollably. The same friend that had called before, called and said DCFS was taking my 3 girls into custody. I knew I had to get to my girls right away. They didn’t even know their brother was gone.

So I said my goodbyes to Dylan and we left. When I got home DCFS had my girls in their cars and said we lost them. I was furious and said, “You’re not taking my girls anywhere. I needed to tell them about their brother.” I didn’t want them to hear it from some stranger. They told me I couldn’t talk to them.

That’s when my 12 year old jumped out of the car and came running to me. From the look on my face she knew her brother was gone and all I could do was hold her as we cried together. That’s when the police officer came and ripped her from my arms.

From the start of this nightmare I knew the police would blame us for Dylan’s death. My suspicions were confirmed when I asked what was going on. They said we were under investigation for murder. The officer asked if I put Dylan in the car as a punishment. The police left us sitting in our front yard and told us we couldn’t go inside because my house was a crime scene. So, with our son gone and DCFS taking our other children this left my husband and I all alone sitting in our front yard crying.

It took 2 days for them to rule Dylan’s death an accident, but by that time DCFS had my other 3 children. We had to go to court to get our girls back all in the process of planning our son’s funeral. If it wasn’t for a state legislator fighting for us to get our girls back we wouldn’t of got them back. With his help on day 3 we got them back. My husband and I decided that we wanted to make our son’s casket. It took 5 days to complete this task with no sleep, but we knew that our son would be put to rest with 1 last act of love from us.

On Sept. 12 1998 we laid our son to rest.

My dear son Dylan mommy is really missing you and I just want you to know that I love you so very much. Please protect us and guide us and always remember that mommy and daddy love you so much.

Donate in honor of Dylan