A mother’s heartache - As daughter’s birthday looms, family pray for missing woman’s return

As Jerdine Dixon makes preparation for her granddaughter, Rayne's, fourth birthday celebration on October 30, her heart is filled with a fervent hope that her daughter, Chauntai Samuels, the child's mother, will be there to help blow out the candles. Dixon has not seen Samuels, her only daughter, in more than five long months.

Sitting in her living room in Duhaney Park, St Andrew, Dixon's tears flowed as she pleaded for the return of her 22-year-old daughter who was last seen on May 5.

"Her daughter's birthday is October 30 and she wouldn't miss that. Her birthday is the first week of November and we always spend that day together. I know people may be afraid, or too proud to talk, but I just want to know what happen to my daughter. I can't function properly and my greatest wish is that her daughter gets to see her on her two feet again," Dixon said.

Samuels was last seen in her Kintyre, St Andrew, community on May 5, where she allegedly met with someone. Dixon said she spoke with her child, who answers to the name Ali, hours before her mysterious disappearance. They made plans to meet later that day but it did not materialise.

A reward of $250,000 has been offered for information on Samuels' whereabouts. Despite this, the family has received no meaningful information that could lead them to the 22-year-old. Given the situation, Dixon, while trying to keep hope alive, admits that she fears the worst at time.

"Sometimes I feel she will be found alive and sometimes I think she may be dead. I don't have anything conclusive in my head. The situation pointing in a negative direction though but I have to keep my fingers cross same way. I am trying my best to keep focus, God knows," Dixon said.

- SML