I still have hope

FOR almost six months since her 16-year-old daughter Shindlar Cuffy disappeared without a trace, Claxton Bay mother of two Shondel Shallow has carried five photographs of Shindlar in her purse. She has shown them to people she met at church, taxi drivers, passengers, pedestrians and others hoping that there is someone who has seen her daughter. The photos show Shindlar between the ages of two and 16 years old.

“I am not going to ever give up hope. I show people these photographs because I know that my little girl is out there somewhere alive. Somebody must have seen her, I know this. As a mother, you just know. And these photographs are my only hope. I never leave the house without them,” Shallow said wiping her tears during an interview at her home on Sunday.

On the morning of November 26, 2018, she left the family’s Rose Hill home and walked with Shindlar to the Southern Main Road for her to get a taxi to go to school. A few minutes later, a white AD wagon taxi stopped with two other passengers, and Shindlar got in to be taken to the Marabella North secondary school.

At about 3.30 pm that day, Shallow became worried when her daughter did not return home. She called Shindlar’s cell phone, but the call went to voicemail.

Shallow went to the school and was told that her daughter had not shown up for classes. As she spoke with Newsday, the emotional woman said she would never wish another mother to experience the pain she feels.

"It is if my heart is ripping apart. I look at these photographs every day and my heart aches. I was the one who sent my child in a car for school. I did not know that was the last time I was going to see her.”

Shallow said every time she closes her eyes to sleep, she sees Shindlar’s image.

“I feel as if she is calling out to me. I hear her call my name in my dreams, but I can’t do anything about it. I feel so hopeless. The only memories I have of her are these photographs which are also my strength to continue to cope. I will never give up looking for her. I know she is alive, but someone has her.”

Last year, while tidying up Shindlar’s bedroom for Christmas, Shallow found a letter which she has since handed over to police. In the letter, Shindlar wrote that the Lord had sent her on a mission.

Weeks later, a woman claiming to be a religious leader by the name of “Mother Clare” contacted Shallow via social media telling her that Shindlar was not her property. In an audio clip, the woman said Shindlar, who was renamed "Rainbow," was loaned to Shallow by God. The woman, who has a foreign accent added, “She is alive and she will not return.”

Shallow said she believes the woman might have been a scam artist who set up a distraction to make her think her daughter was taken out of the country.

“I know she is right here, and when many people have given up hope of finding her I will not. I will carry these photographs everywhere asking people if they have seen my missing daughter.

"Please I am begging, it has been almost six months.. Please send my daughter home to me."

Shindlar has a younger sister. Her mother said they were both close and not a day goes by when the girl does not cry.

Shindlar will turn 17 on September 14. She was also expected to write the May/ June Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exam this year. Shindlar, whose hair is blonde, was last seen wearing her school uniform – a white shirt and blue skirt and tie. She also had a coloured knapsack with her schoolbooks.

Police sources said since her disappearance, no one has called the family to demand any ransom or to indicate where she is. Police of the Anti-Kidnapping and Cyber Crime Units are investigating. A senior police officer told Newsday on Sunday that while they had been contacted for different sightings of the girl, none of the information turned out to be credible.