‘In my heart I know Jasmine Deen is alive’
Woman who used social media to find her daughter seeks to inspire hope in family of missing university student
ONE RELIEVED mother is crediting the power of social media in finding her daughter who went missing a couple of weeks ago. Now, she is using that fortune to inspire hope in the family of Jasmine Deen, a visually impaired university student whose disappearance has captured the hearts of Jamaicans.
Denese Palmer, founder of Southside Distributors in St Elizabeth, who is currently overseas, was sent into a tailspin one Saturday after getting the dreaded news that her daughter, Casieka Dunkley, had been missing for three days.
“Somebody I don’t know who knows her messaged me on Facebook Messenger that she was missing,” related Palmer, who said that she contacted him right away to verify the information.
Being satisfied that he was able to answer pertinent questions she asked him, Palmer and her other daughter, Cassiena Dunkley, took to social media to get assistance from the public in finding her. In the past, she had frequently used her social media platforms to help strangers find their missing loved ones.
FLYER RESHARED
Turning to WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram,and Twitter, Palmer and Dunkley posted the missing-person flyer, which, in turn, was reshared and retweeted by their followers. Later that evening, her daughter’s whereabouts were known.
“Someone who had seen the poster on social media recognised her and contacted me and told me that she was seen in the ER (emergency room) at a hospital.”
Checks with the particular hospital confirmed that her daughter was a patient there. Palmer said that her daughter lost consciousness while out in public and was taken to hospital by a good Samaritan, to whom she expresses gratitude.
Having gone through the ordeal of trying to find her missing daughter, Palmer said that she could imagine what other parents who have been looking for their missing children for a longer time are going through.
She highlighted the case of Deen, a student of The University of the West Indies, who has been missing since February 27.
Palmer said that in the same way that she had discerned that her daughter was alive when she went missing, she also discerns that Deen is still alive.
“I feel it in my spirit ... in my heart. I know she’s alive. We need to find Jasmine,” said Palmer.
“Leave her where we can find her,” she appealed to her captors.