Relative heartbroken by missing mom and baby saga

Yesterday, a thick fog blanketed James Mountain, but the mist was not the reason behind the gloominess in the rural St Andrew district.

The residents are saddened as they are convinced that the two burnt bodies that were found in Rockfort, St Andrew, last week are of Toshyna Patterson, and her 10-month-old daughter Sarayah Paulwell. Patterson, who hails from James Mountain, is the babymother of Member of Parliament for East Kingston and Port Royal Phillip Paulwell.

It is believed that Patterson, 27, and the infant were abducted from their home on Gilmour Drive in St Andrew on September 9. Although a $500,000 reward was offered for information on their whereabouts, their disappearance remains a mystery.

Patterson grew up in James Mountain but relocated with some of her relatives, including her twin sister, a few years ago. But she returns to the quiet district regularly to visit family and friends. As he directed the news team to some of Patterson's relatives, a man said the tragic incident is the talk of the town, and that everyone is devastated at the recent revelations.

"When we hear say di little girl and her baby go missing we bawl, and now it come in like dem dead, it hurt we even more. Up here suh she grow until dem move, and she come from a nice family. People wicked enuh, because what could a baby do yuh to hurt him like that? A lot of we up here nuh eat or sleep good since it happen. Everybody deh pon dem phone a pray fi good updates," the man said.

Patterson's distraught father, Jeffery, was not at home when THE STAR team visited, but Sonia Thompson, who identified herself as a cousin, said that she has been following the developments closely.

"Mi weak out, and when mi hear [of the burnt bodies] Friday, inside of mi head start feel cold, and then the whole a mi body get cold and mi start feel weak. Yesterday [Sunday] mi cook, and God bless weh mi eat. The whole a di food left back, cover up in the kitchen. Mi can't believe someone would do a next person that. How could someone hurt a innocent baby?" she said.

Last Friday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey disclosed that four persons have been arrested in relation to the case, and that the matter has morphed into a complex case of kidnapping and conspiracy to murder. Among those arrested are 34-year-old petty officer in the United States Navy, Leoda Bradshaw, who also shares a child with Paulwell.

Although the autopsy results have not yet been revealed, Thompson said that Patterson's loved ones are convinced that the remains are of the mother and child. She said that when she first heard of the missing mother and child, even though she saw their photographs, it didn't immediately click that they were her relatives. She explained that although she knew that Patterson had a child, she did not query the father's identity.

"Mi keep on a tell myself say she look familiar, but it a ring inna mi head. But the Sunday morning, mi hear [popular clergyman] Mark Stewart a talk about it and a deh so it come to mi say is mi family and when mi hear, mi scream out," she said.

Thompson said she last saw Patterson during the Easter holidays at a service at Stewart's church, which Patterson attends.

"I saw she and her twin and the baby. She had the baby, and she even have the baby foot in her chest, and she was dancing and playing with her. I didn't know it was the last time I would see her," Thompson said.