Mom’s worst nightmare - Family grapples with stylist’s disappearance

When hairdresser Karina 'Kimmy' Gibson left her Kingston 11 home on July 13 to do a house call in St Elizabeth, her mother, Phillisha Hardy, was not perturbed, as this was nothing abnormal.

However, Gibson, who, her mother said, was the only one of her seven children she never had to worry about, has not been seen since.

"When she first came to Kingston, her clients would book the appointment online and she would visit them and do their hair. There is camera footage of her leaving. Normally, she would contact me to tell me she is going out, but this time she didn't," she said. Hardy lives in St James, and because of the distance, Gibson, 31, ensured that she checked on her daily.

"This child don't go anywhere and nuh call mi. She call every day, and she always tell mi say she don't know how she would manage if sumpn ever happen to mi; and now, look here. I always know her whereabouts, but now I don't know where my daughter is," Hardy said. The family is offering a cash reward for information leading to Gibson's safe return, but Hardy said the calls that they have been receiving are threatening and disturbing.

[The callers say] that they are going to do a lot of things to her [including kill her]. They are coming in from private numbers, so we have recorded them and hand over the recording to the police," Hardy said. She described her daughter as a burst of sunshine to whom everyone gravitates.

"She didn't have any children, but she would show up for everyone at special functions. She loves her family. It is so painful," she added. Hardy said Gibson's partner told her that they made contact up to Sunday, July 14 via telephone, but grew worried when she did not call or return that day.

"She told him that she was finishing up the knotless braid that she was doing, so at 2 p.m. he should meet her in Spanish Town. He said he was there until 3 p.m. and didn't see her. So he was wondering if her battery died and she went straight home instead. So he went back home to check, but she wasn't there," she said. All subsequent calls to her phone have not received an answer.

"Kimmy is a social media person and she post everything - from what she eat or drink to where she going and what she wearing. She eat and breathe the phone, so when everybody see seh dem nah get to her, we get alarmed," Hardy said. A report was made at the Olympic Gardens Police Station. According to police reports, Gibson was last seen at home on Ashoka Road, Kingston 11. Her mode of dress is unknown. She is of dark complexion, medium build and 5' 5" tall.

"From that time we don't have a clear lead. The police are doing their best, but nothing still. I keep trying to find theories to hold on pon to keep me through the days dem. I feel some foul play is involved. I don't know, but something went wrong, because if she could come home, she would have done so a long time ago," she said.

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Karina Gibson is being asked to contact the Olympic Gardens Police Station at 876 923 5468.