On birth date of murdered woman – No joy, only deep sorrow for Danette's family

TODAY should have been one of celebration for the relatives of Danette Pierre who would have marked her 32nd birthday.

Instead, they are continuing preparations for her funeral and her mother Donna continues to search in vain for answers as to the question: why would someone want to murder her daughter?

Funeral arrangements have had to be put on hold, however, as the Forensic Science Centre only released the woman's burnt remains to her family on Tuesday.

“I was hoping to get everything done (for the funeral) for tomorrow (Thursday), but there is still a lot of stuff to be done, so it can’t happen until maybe next week,” Donna told Newsday on Wednesday.

She said her seven-year-old grandson, the middle child of Pierre’s three children, has been crying as he plays all of his mother’s favourite music, to try and feel close to her.

“He is constantly playing music his mummy liked, and what she used to sing for them. He is getting sick, he is getting fever,” Donna said.

She said the children, including a 13-year-old girl, are being counselled by officials from the Police Victim Support Unit. The youngest child is still a baby.

Donna said she has also ruled out a second autopsy to confirm the skeletal remains found in a burnt out car, are indeed that of her daughter who went missing on January 28.

“Having a second autopsy means that it would drag on for another three months, because if I am questioning the integrity of our services, it would mean that the remains would have to go abroad for testing and we would have to spend money which we don’t have.

“My family has said instead of waiting for another three months, with all this grief stretching out the outcome, it is better if we just let good sense prevail.”

A DNA test was the first, in quite some time, to be done at the St James lab of the Forensic Science Centre, and Donna said this also caused her not to pursue another autopsy.

“I said, you know I am so blessed, because so many people can’t even get semi-closure to have DNA testing done on their loved ones who died years before, and we got it done so quickly.

“I say God is in control. I talking to God right through and I am giving all the praises to God because He knows that I need to get closure. To get the answers. So I am not questioning that (the DNA results) at all.”

Pierre’s parents Donna and Dave Pierre submitted DNA samples on February 5, after jewellery found in the burnt out remains of a Mazda 3 sedan, was identified as belonging to their daughter.

The samples proved to be a 100 per cent match and the Pierre family was informed of the findings on March 1.

The burnt car, discovered at Cedar Hill Road, Forres Park, Claxton Bay, the same day Pierre went missing, was reportedly stolen from the Sangre Grande district in mid-January.

Pierre left the family’s home at Hibiscus Drive, Petite Morne Settlement, Ste Madeleine, around 8.30 pm on January 28, after receiving a telephone call. Dressed very casually, she told her mother she was “making a turn” and would be back soon.

Calls to her phone went unanswered. A report was made to the Ste Madeleine Police station the next morning.

Using her cellphone records, several persons of interest, including a man who had made a call to her cell phone before she disappeared, have been questioned. Danette said while the chapter on identifying the body is closed, as far as she knows, the investigation into who killed her daughter and why, is still very active.