Mixed emotions
Body found in car in river linked to missing Ualbany student
Mother reflects on news police discover car similar to missing son’s vehicle.
Grace Skinner described it as an out-of-body experience: the mix of emotions that swept through her when State Police recently told her that they had found a car in the Hudson River similar to one her son was driving when he vanished 12 years ago.
“I was kind of out of it, but right now I’m in a mood where I want to know what happened to him,” the Poughkeepsie woman told the Times Union Wednesday.
“Now I’m not going to get him back, I’m going to get bones. I need to know what happened.”
Her only son, Rohan Stefon Brown, was about to return to the state University at Albany when he disappeared in August 2008. He wasn’t himself, she recalled.
“There was something bothering him — he was scared, but he wouldn’t tell me and didn’t tell his stepdad; he didn’t tell no one, no friends,” said Skinner, who is British. “It looked really grim, like something deep was going on, and we were close, but there’s certain things that children don’t tell their mum ‘cause they worry.”
She recalled that Brown’s
car was packed with his belongings as he got ready to head back to Ualbany. But then his demeanor suddenly changed for he worse.
“You could see that he was withdrawing — because he’s a lively guy, and he just would go in his room and shut the door, and not talk and not eat,” Skinner said. “That’s not like him, so I knew something was going on. But you just think it may be he had an argument with someone; you don’t think it would end up with him going missing.”
His disappearance occurred after the 26-yearold sped away from police when they tried to pull him over for what they later told Skinner was a routine traffic stop the night of Aug. 6, 2008. The next day, Skinner was also told, Brown was stopped again by police in New Paltz for driving erratically.
She said prayer has gotten her through all these years of worrying and waiting for any news.
Skinner, 60, described her son as a “fun-loving guy” who loved soccer, music and hanging out with friends. To her knowledge, he was not involved in any illegal activity. He wanted to become a lawyer.
She and Brown emigrated from Jamaica to Poughkeepsie, where her parents lived, when he was 7.
Skinner said after telling her about their recent discovery, police asked her for Brown’s dentist, presumably to use dental records to try to identify the remains found in the car pulled from the Hudson.
The State Police Underwater Recovery Team and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Rhinebeck began investigating the discovery of a Hyundai near Victor C. Waryas Park last week. The team members were conducting sonar training operations and discovered a sunken vehicle about 75 feet from shore at a depth of about 24 feet.
After removing the vehicle to a secure location, the Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s Office and law enforcement authorities discovered human remains inside.
Skinner recalled cominghomefromatripto the laundromat last week when her husband told her that the State Police had called and said that they were coming to talk with her about her son’s case.
“I thought maybe he’s somewhere. Getting that (news) was kind of tough; but it’s kind of mixed because in the bottom of your gut you feel like he’s gone,” Skinner said. “Me and my son were very close, so for all these years to pass and him not call me or try to get someone to call me, that looked funny to me.”
She appealed for anyone who may have seen or heard anything suspicious to call State Police so she can have some semblance of closure.
“I understand that people want to mind their business, but this is important,” Skinner said. “And if they do know anything, it would be nice if they call anonymously to the police. I don’t think closure completely comes until you know what happened.
“He’s my only child,” she said, “so I don’t know how I’m going to close that up.”