Hero gives reward money to ‘the real hero’

Here’s your daily dose of sweetness:

This is Earl Melchert (left) of Barrett, Minn.

Earl was working at his home last month when a 15-year-old girl who many figured might be dead, escaped from the men who abducted her and asked him for help.

“Eventually she got close to me and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s a woman.’ Then pretty soon I said, ‘No, it’s a young girl.’ I knew it was her as soon as I saw her face,” he recalled today.

A reward had been posted for information about her abduction and today Earl showed up at the Alexandria Police Department, which was prepared to give him the $7,000 he richly deserved.

“The reward money means absolutely nothing to me,” Melchert said.

Then he gave the money to the girl.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” he said. “I did what I had to do.”