It was April 1997. Six teenagers from Kentucky pulled into a Greene County rest stop and carjacked the Lillelids, a family of four from Knoxville.The teens drove the family to a rural road and shot all four of them, killing father Vidar, mother Delfina and 6-year-old Tabitha. Two-year-old Peter survived, with gunshot wounds to the head and back."It was unbelievable; it was too much," said, Randi Heier, Peter's paternal aunt. "Not only one person was dead, but three persons, and one seriously hurt."Three months later, a judge granted custody to Randi and her husband Odd, who took Peter back to live with them in Sweden."I wanted to give him a life, give him a new family," Odd said.Nearly ten years later, 10News Reporter Brittany Bailey traveled to Sweden to talk with Peter and his family.Today, they live in the town of Marsta, outside of Stockholm.Peter enjoys playing piano, computer games and with his dog, Pepsi.In their free time, the Heiers often head to nearby Sigtuna, an old Viking town on Lake Malaren.In the summer, they boat and fish. In the winter, they take advantage of the ice. "He's full of life," Odd said. "He's in quite good humor, most of the time."Peter doesn't remember the attack, but he knows what happened. Randi and Odd say it was important to tell him everything, so he would know his family and what happened to him.Peter lost an eye to the attack and suffered a wound to his back. Today, he has trouble walking and uses a wheelchair most of the time."Of course, it makes me sad to see that he is not able to run around like the other kids," Randi said. "I feel sorry for him that he's not able to do it."But that doesn't hold Peter back from playing soccer, swimming, jet skiing or learning to snowboard. "I hope (the viewers of East Tennessee) can see that Peter is growing and doing quite well," Odd said."I want them to know that we really appreciate that and that we really are thankful, and i'm still thinking about all these different people every day," Randi said.Even Peter doesn't harbor bad feelings about Knoxville.He says he would like to return someday, adding, "That's a good, that's a good country."
Peter Lillelid: Ten years later
Nearly ten years ago, six Kentucky teens shot all four members of the Lillelid family. Now, for the first time, the lone survivor, Peter Lillelid Heier, speaks to 10News.
