Mother seeks closure after teen son vanishes

The mother of a 16-year-old schoolboy, who vanished in December, says she is tortured by claims that her son has been killed and buried in Moruga.

Dianedra Samuel, 36, of Princes Town is pleading for police and the public to help find her son, a form four student of the Barrackpore West Secondary School.

Samuel said on Saturday that she had been told that her son, Christon "Tantan" Marshall, had been kidnapped and taken to Venezuela and also that he was killed and buried in a shallow grave in Moruga.

"No one is telling me these things directly. People are not saying who ‘killed’ him or where they ‘buried’ or when. People keep talking."

"We are hearing all kinds of thing. Someone said they saw him at C3 Centre. Another claimed to have seen him in Mayaro. I just want closure. This is stressful. I believe he is coming back home."

Samuel said she has not been eating and sleeping properly since his disappearance.

"I have done all that I could have to try to find Tantan. God forbid if something bad happened to him, I want to know. I do not know what else to do. The waiting is killing me."

She told Sunday Newsday that Christon’s father, Ricardo Marshall, last saw him about 2 pm in the town area on December 28. Christon lives with his parents and sister, 13, at Buen Intento Road.

When Christon did not return home that night, the family began searching for him. He did not have a phone. He writes songs and sings. Samuel initially thought he had gone to a recording studio at New Grant, as he was accustomed going there.

A friend later told them that Christon went to Moruga, either La Lune or Marac Village, with a man to buy marijuana. Initially, the man denied it but later admitted to the drug run.

The man claimed to have dropped off Christon by a man’s house then left."

Sgt Mohammed of the Princes Town police station is investigating.

Police are asking anyone who has information or know of Christon's whereabouts to kindly asked to call 999, 555, 911, 800-TIPS or any police station or text/WhatsApp 482-GARY or report via the police service App.