12 painful months without baby Jameal - Missing Clarendon child’s mother confident she will see him again

May 12 will mark 12 long and weary months since Kera Williams saw her son, Jameal Mendez Jr, who was two years old when he went missing from his home in Rasta Corner in Free Town, Clarendon.

Williams told THE WEEKEND STAR that the pain of not knowing her baby's whereabouts was increased on April 5, Jameal's birthday.

"Before him birthday mi a sey, 'Look how mi would a deh a May Pen a buy up some things fi JJ birthday', 'cause we would a keep him party and this time him not even deh here. It never feel nice," said Williams. "The day before him birthday mi just siddung a look out a space. The night of his birthday mi nuh sleep none at all."

The mother of two shared that her nine-year-old daughter has also been struggling with the reality of her sibling's disappearance

"She get him a gift for his birthday in 2021 and 2022, and this birthday she was planning on getting him something again. She sey, 'Mommy, mi a go see back JJ for his birthday?' Mi a fi sey mi nuh know. And she sey, 'Mommy, nuh trick mi, enuh'," she said.

Wondering if her baby may have been kidnapped or even sold, Williams said, "Mi a wonder if the people dem weh tek weh JJ nuh have no heart. Just bring him back. Wi nuh a fi see yuh face or just leave him at the police station."

"Mi forgive unuh already. Just mek wi get back the baby. Mi a beg dem please fi bring him back to mi. If a sell somebody sell him to unuh, wi will give yuh back the money." Despite the gloom, she expressed optimism that she will see her son again.

"Mi affi see back JJ one day. If a even when him big. Mi pray to God say anywhere him deh, them a treat him like how we treat him. Mi wish when May 12 come next week, mi see back mi baby. Mi wish when that day come dem bring him back. Mi still have hope. Mi a wait on God," said an emotional Williams.

She said that Jameal Sr, the baby's father, has been having a hard time coping with his only child's mysterious disappearance. She said he already had plans to have their son start school in January at a private institution in the parish that he wanted baby Jameal to attend. Williams said that she has since packed away some of her baby's stuff, in a bid to stay strong, citing that the belongings are a stark and painful reminder of the heartbreaking reality.

"Sometimes mi lock up an' cry 'cause a mi and him a would a deh here. Anywhere mi a go a mi and JJ, and it hard sometimes mi see the other kids a play, 'cause mi a sey a that JJ would be doing right now. Sometimes mi feel like a dream mi a dream and a beg God fi wake mi up out a mi dream because mi cyaa believe this really happen to me," lamented Williams.

Detective Ali-Jade Johnson, who oversees the missing persons portfolio at the May Pen Police Station in Clarendon, told THE WEEKEND STAR that the police are getting little information. He assured, however, that the police are working assiduously to ascertain information into baby Jameal's disappearance. He also discouraged citizens from leaning to what he described as an "old time methodology" of waiting until 24 hours have passed to report a person missing to the police.