Teenager remains missing
(CNS): Update Tuesday 7:00am. Police confirmed on Monday afternoon that 15 year old Tamara Smith is still missing. A police spokesperson said that they had received no reports of her wherabouts. Tamara has now been missing for more than two weeks and the police are urging members of the public for help in tracing her. Tamara appears to have run away from her home in West Bay on Sunday, 7 February. According to a police report issued at the weekend, Tamara’s mother awoke to find that her daughter’s bedroom was empty and that Tamara was missing. Some clothing and a black Jan Spots back pack were also missing from the room.
Police said that this is not the first time that Tamara has disappeared from home and that there have been several unconfirmed sightings made to the family during the course of last week.
Tamara has allegedly been seen in Rock Hole, East End, West Bay and Kings Sports Centre. When last seen by her mother on the 6 February she was wearing a black hooded sweater and jean pants, but as she appears to have taken several items of clothing with her she may have changed into other clothes. Tamara is described as 5’6” in height, weighing approximately 165lbs, with medium brown complexion, relaxed shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. Detective Sergeant Doris Morris-Herrera of the RCIPS Family Support Unit is appealing for anyone who may have any knowledge of Tamara’s current whereabouts to contact her on 946-9185 or their local police station.
Police have also confirmed that the delay in issued a public announcement about Tamara’s disappearence was made made in conjunction with her family.
Category: Headline News
CNS…..Is this young girl still missing? If so, I find it unbelievable that nothing (so it appears) is being done to find her.
CNS is there any update on this missing child? I find it very disturbing that It’s been almost 3 weeks since she first went missing and besides the initial ‘alert’ it does not appear that there is very much being done to find her.
CNS: There has been no update. We check with the police periodically.
Has there been any updates on this missing girl?
CNS: No, we’ll update as soon as we hear anything.
This LITTLE girl is NOT missing, she simply does not want to go home. Maybe someone should approach her WHEN they see her (countryside) and ask her why she doesn’t want to go home. How about instead of beating our children, we try to identify with them and listen to them everyonce and a while.
Yes my parents beat (disciplined) me when I was growing up and let me tell you it did help me be the person I am today. I did learn to respect authority and not think myself to high to be put in place, but now a days its a different world all together. You cannot just beat your kids and expect for them to not lash out especially when young people are targeted like they are by media, friends and what not.
THere needs to be a safe place where these young girls and boys can go when they do not want to be home. There should be a place that can help them and offers counseling to our youth and to coach/ counsel them to return home. Fixing our youth NOW will affect and fix our future.
I don’t see the problem with posting missing articles of missing people in the paper or poster around the place. I don’t believe however that people should be inundated with text messagesfrom phone companies.
I understand that families want as many people to be aware of a missing person so that if they know anything they can come forward, but I don’t believe that invading someones personal phone is the way to go about it.
My thoughts are with the family and I hope your little girl is found soon.
This child has been "missing" for going on to three weeks now. If people have really seen her, then the concern should now be that it is probably an adult or adults that is harbouring/hiding her.
These girls are troubled and very vulnerable and predators know when to strike and who to target. I personally think that there is a systematic and deliberate onslaught on some of our young people which may be gang related.
Whatever is her disposition or whatever is her reason for running away, please realise that she is someone’s child. I can’t imagine what they must be going through right now not knowing where or how she is.
Has this young lady been found?
Why are we not out searching for her?
How dare you ask the news service to stop posting? Surely if this were your daughter you would think they are not covering the story enough.
You all speak of being tired of receiving messages of missing girls, but what if it was YOUR daughter, your sister, your niece? Frustrating as it may be to later find out that their being missing was by choice, is that not better than what poor Sabrina’s family has endured.
For such a small community, the bitterness is appauling. Get off your high horses!
A young, frustrated (and somewhat embarrased) Caymanian.
So much loose talk in these comments about how you’d BEAT YOUR CHILD if they ever tried to run away…with that kind of home life to come back to, it’s little wonder these youth are running.
Teen youth have not changed in 1000s of years. They are running away from their parents to have fun time with their friends and special friends, often for the wrong reasons. Kids learn from example. I’d wager that you did something similar at the same age, your mama probably did it, and your mamma’s mama before her.
Let’s just hope this girl is just a runaway and not the unthinkable other.
Ahhhmmmm is it just me or are we on the THIRD week now of her absence………with her face plastered on the television and on the web surely there should be more concern and compassion for this child’s welfare or at minimum someone should know her whereabouts. It is unbelievable the things that happen on such a small island. We are becoming quite a callous nation. If she is found safely and indeed she was being an irresponsible teen THEN we can dole out our critique but week three seems a bit troubling to me………………..
I agree that it is very hard to hear when a child goes missing and then found out that they just ran away. I too would be very upset and may even take my anger out and beat the child, but that doesn’t really solve anything.
Have any of you parents ever thought that your children needed some of your attention? Not to pretty anything up, but now a days, these are what these young children are missing; attention! There are too many broken homes here in Cayman and they need to be fixed. Too many single parents are left to raise more than one child on their own and can’t find the time to spend and build a good relationship with their children, and in result of that, they stray away and try to find love in all the wrong place.
I am a student in the community college. I have not taken any psychological classes to understand what the major problem is, but it is abvious to any sensible person who isn’t ignorant. Times are changing and we need to adjust ourselves to deal with situations in a better approach. Beating honestly won’t do much good. I f some of you people are smart and not so ignorant, you’ll know that beating a child isn’t going to help you, but causes the child to react in ways you never expected.
has this child been found yet
CNS: I asked the police this morning and she hadn’t been found then.
stop reporting these girls as missing if they have voluntarily left after disagreeing with their parents.
they enjoy the media attention that they are getting. call them what they are – runaways.
Yes, CNS please stop these reports. This is becoming like the "Boy who cried Wolf".
CNS: When the police send out missing teen reports we will continue to post them.
I am the mother of a teen daughter and she had better not even think of doing such a thing but I think she knows full well what would await her when found. I agree completely with poster 02/21/2010 – 13:43, an old fashioned, strict upbringing don’t kill anyone and sure as heck instills a lot of respect, most of all self respect.
Hey Spit the Dog and Au Revior, what if your child went MISSING (that beingthe operative word here) insomuch that you became concerned – the reason being irrelevant here – wouldn’t you like comprehensive alerts to be circulated? Until these girls are located one can never truly say whether they are ‘missing’ by choice or force. Your kind of attitude would serve to ignore a situation which could end tragically. Remember Sabrina??
Then again, you’re probably not parents and wouldn’t understand.
To poster 17:47,you are probably right;these comments are not by parents .They just cant be .Too cold and heartless.
There has not been a single incident in recent memory where a child has gone missing and has not run away voluntarily. Nor has there been any incident of an abuction of an adult in circumstances where any intervention mechanism would have made any difference. I am tired of the hysteria associated with these badly behaved little girls.
And yes, I am a parent.
The thumbs say it all.
Poster at 13:43- I totally agree with you. When I was 15 I’d better be where my parents left me 2 hours before but I guess nowadays 2 weeks is nothing.
I have 3 young girls at home and I would pay them to try running away from home. I would cut their tail when they get back. The girls now a days have no self pride or respect. Parents are letting them get away with being disrespectful, dressing any way they want and going and coming as they please. Call me old fashion but I will stick to the way i was raised, it didn’t kill me.
The police would have to deal with me, but let my daughter dream of running away even for one night!
next thing you’ll have is text messages advising you that so and so refuses to eat their veggies…
10:37 its because these young girls is always running away from home and their parents don’t have any control over them.
Let the parents search for them, it all comes down to the child and parent relationship and at the end of the day if that is not in their home. Then we will continue to see these reports about young hirls gone missing, which should say "Young girl left home for a weekend trip"
my 2cents
I agree. The stories about runaway girls are getting tiresome. Starve the miscreants of oxygen of publicity.
Fantastic idea, however do you remember on previous occasions when someone went missing, and the RCIP did not have a press release, then everyone on this site was condemming the RCIP and calling them useless, now that the RCIP is making press releases in relation to missing persons, everyone is complaining!
The reality is, as i pointed out when everyone was complaining about the lack of press releases in relation to missing persons, hundreds of people are reported missing each year, mostly kids who go missing every other day, and then are found at the Kings Sports Centre with their friends. These people are not ‘missing,’ they just don’t want to be found.
I am a parent too, I can tell you that I raised two and neither one of them would have thought of this, yet it all comes down to what Parents allow their children to get away with.No teen girl,13-14-15 should have the perogative to come and go as they please, they are still in need of your care and assistance, untill you graduate and move on this is my home and as long as you remain under my roof, these are my rules. It dont hurt them, so stop adopting this nonsense that they should have their own life, they cant even think let alone support themselves. So parents take a stand and show love and respect and get it in return.
AOW, great suggestion! But for that reason it probably won’t get any attention.
I don’t want my phone clogged up with messages about badly behaved teenagers.
i agree. just another tool for lazy parents not to take any responsibility for the rearing of their children. if the kid got lost or has been kidnapped, yes, put out the text message. but don’t clog up my cell phone because you can’t control your kid.
To spit the dog for people who think like you ,theres always the delete button.
Check subway in savanah…
I wonder if the police could partner with the mobile companies to send these photos to people’s phones as soon as these kids go missing…i mean most people have phones that can receive data…it’s worth looking into…that way, sightings could be quickly communicated and people could be on the look out…not everuone reads the paper or watch local television…we really need to come up with innovative ways of getting these information out…afterall, they already bombard us with ads!
Why not just triangulate the cell phone?
they’re just not smart enough to think of it…
What if the SIM card & battery are taken out??
gosh, you’re just toosmart for us. if the sim card and battery were taken out, guess what??? it wouldn’t work. but nowhere is it written in the article that they’ve tried it – so chances are, they just weren’t bright enough to try it. because trust me, had they tried it, it would have been reported. (ie. authorities have been working hard to triangulate the…with unsuccessful results…)
Brilliant idea! All of this should be done free of charge and the recipients should be able to respond with their information free of charge and without any identifying phone numbers, Many people here want to protect others, but are too afraid for their own safety to give any information.
The Governor and the Police can talk all they want about passing bills, but unless we can protect ourselves, none of what is on the table now will work. Laws have not worked in the Cayman Islands.
What a shock, a Caymanian asking for something for free.