The grandfather of the missing one-year-old child from Brasso Seco is calling on whoever has his “heart”, as he called her, or has information on her whereabouts to divulge it so that the family and the community can heal. Speaking with the media yesterday, Steve Amoroso said all he wanted was closure. He added: “We know it have people in the village who know what happened and are not saying anything and some of them incarcerated right now.
“We want to know what is going on. We want to help the police. “We just want the family back. If they dead, we want them still. We want the case closed and the family back so people could heal and start to live again because people right now dying.” Today is 11 days since the four were last seen. Amoroso’s grandchild, one-year-old Shanaia Amoroso, along with her mother, 19-year-old Jenelle Gonzales, her aunt, 17-year-old Felicia, and their mother 49-year-old Irma Rampersad, have all vanished.
They were last seen at their Bleu Road, Paria, home last Sunday and were last heard from the day after. Amoroso said although he moved into the area two years ago he wanted back the village he knew which cared for its neighbours. “This hadda stop! We want back we village. We family, dead or alive. My granddaughter is my heart. I want she back, dead or alive,” Amoroso said.
Another resident, Eddie Hill, said in his lifetime of living in the area it was the first something time like this had happened and it has traumatised the community. “I am the son of a mother. I have aunts, sisters, daughters and granddaughters. It is a whole family of women they take. I lost family members and never shed any tears but right now I want to get some answers. This is very sad,” a tearful Hill said.
Both men, like other relatives of the missing family, believe they have been taken and are being held against their will. Amoroso said he was further enraged by the fake reports daily about his granddaughter’s lifeless body being found. “Whoever do this, allyuh have no heart. Why kidnap a little baby and have her living in the bush? Please release them and go allyuh way,” he added.
Police said yesterday they were pursuing all leads after they received a report that two armed men were spotted in a makeshift camp in a christophene patch in the area. They said after getting the report they went to where the gunmen were allegedly spotted but found nothing. Police did not search yesterday for the missing family but allowed villagers to do so. They are also looking for a man who they believe could assist them in their investigations into the disappearance of the four.