Teen missing for nearly a year

When Marrisa Reid visited the THE STAR offices on Tuesday, her face told a tale of despair and stress.

She tried hard to hold back tears as she spoke about her only daughter Theresa Smith, who has been missing since March 23, 2020. She recalled that she last saw Theresa on the day she went missing.

"She tell me say she a go downtown go buy groceries and I tell her 'mek me and you go town' because she say she nuh want me follow her. But I tell her me nuh want her go nowhere mek nothing happen to har and me nuh see har again, and me start cry and she start wipe my face," she wept. Reid said she feels like she has exhausted her efforts of locating her child, and has encountered many sleepless nights.

"Me bawl 'bout my daughter, enuh. Me go Montego Bay, Ochi, Rockfort, Spanish Town, all bout the place a look for her," she said. Reid shared that Theresa would have started her 11th grade studies at Donald Quarrie High School, with intentions of sitting 13 subjects in the upcoming Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations. She said that Theresa wanted to be a lawyer or to enlist in the Jamaica Defence Force. Now the possibility of either appears unlikely.

"Sometime me feel a way when people tell me say she probably dead. Last year me sick out, me have high blood pressure and deh in the hospital because of this situation. Sometime me feel fi give up because me can't find her or me can't hear nothing bout her, but me nah give up. Me woulda happy fi get her back right now," she told THE STAR.

The 44-year-old said that Theresa's relatives would love to have her home for her 17th birthday on April 27.

"We usually carry her go Devon House, 'cause that's what she likes. I still look at the teddy bear I gave her on her last birthday," she said shaking her head. "Please, me a beg unnu, just help me find my daughter."

Reports from the Harbour View police in St Andrew are that Theresa was last seen at her Bayshore Park home about 10:15 a.m. wearing blue jeans and brown slippers. She was carrying a red handbag. The Criminal Investigations Branch has launched an investigation into Theresa's disappearance.

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Theresa Smith are asked to contact Marrisa Reid at 876-502-1495, 876-777-3971 or the Harbour View police at 876-928-6001.