Hope fades
Relatives of missing woman fear body will never be recovered
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Hope is fading for relatives of Beryl Walters, who was washed away by flood waters on April 21.
“I think every day that goes by, the hope of finding her keeps diminishing. We not really going out anymore to search because we not even sure where to look,” her son Gregory Walters told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.
The 68-year-old woman, her husband Berris, daughter Shannon and granddaughter, Jennel Walters, were pushed into the murky waters of the Barnett River by flood waters along the Westgate main road. Her husband and daughter were rescued from the raging current by nearby onlookers.
Twelve-year-old Jennel’s body was discovered in the sea later in the evening near the Freeport area.
Despite repeated searches, which included nearly daily patrols of the river banks in the aftermath of her disappearance, there has been no sign of the elder woman’s remains. There was a major clean-up to remove debris near the Westgate bridge while divers combed sections of the river, all to no avail.
Gregory Walters and the rest of the family are now clinging to the hope that one last search of a mound of debris in water near the Urban Development Corporation playing field will end their agony of not having a body to lay to rest. Heavy-duty equipment will be brought in to clear the area.
Her son is not overly optimistic but cannot keep himself from hoping.
“If them even find something, maybe shoes or clothes or something,” he said wistfully.
The entire ordeal, he said, has been particularly hard on his father. The elderly man was a picture of despair on Monday, his head burrowed in his hands, said his son.
“Mi a seh, ‘Boy, look like he’s still going through it’,” said the son.
Gregory Walters said the knowledge that his mother would have wanted them to remain strong helps them provide the support his father desperately needs at this time.
They will need that strength when it is time to lay his 12-year-old niece to rest. First, there has to be an autopsy.
“We haven’t gotten a date as yet, we actually waiting to see what date we getting and after that then probably we can start making funeral arrangements. But we nuh get no date fi the autopsy yet,” said the young girl’s uncle.