The family of missing is 21-year-old Shonnette Odessa Dover of Wismar, Linden, who was last seen on April 3, 2021, said that while it is possible that Shonnette may be intentionally staying away due to her rocky relationship, they are uncertain of this as it is unlike her not to communicate even during her worst periods.
There has been a growing concern among Guyanese about persons reported as missing and this is slowly being amped up to worry with the death of 19-year-old Joel Skeete who was also previously missing. Persons in Linden are currently looking with hope for Shonnette, who was last seen in a yellow vest, blue damaged jeans and gold slippers. The Village Voice News spoke with the sister, mother and grandmother of the missing woman on Tuesday to get a better understanding of the situation. According to Shonette’s mother, the young woman resided with her boyfriend in Canvas City, Linden. On the last day she was seen, her younger sister was also at the residence. Speaking with the newspaper, the younger sister said that the last thing her sister told her on April 3 was that she was headed to work.
Shonnette worked at a bar near the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground, called the Country Grill. To the sister, Shonette “seemed normal” like every other day when she left. However, the missing woman didn’t turn up to work that day and hasn’t been at work since April 1, just before the Good Friday/Easter holiday. Speaking with Shonnette’s mother, Simone Benjamin, it was revealed that Shonnette reportedly left home that morning with her key documents. She learned this on the day after her daughter’s disappearance when her daughter’s boyfriend visited her inquiring about Shonnette’s whereabouts. He said that Shonnette wasn’t answering his calls and noted that the two were facing relationship issues.
“He said that he think that we gon got to carry this thing at the station because he can’t see Shonette just gone just so. He said he looked in the house and she gone with she papers, she documents and so. She had some shoes and she gone with that. She clothes there, yes, but she just go out with she working bag and she ain’t come back. I don’t know what fishy thing is this,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin said that Shnonette and her boyfriend have gotten into fights in the past due to issues in their relationship. She wonders whether her daughter may have feared for her safety and therefore left without a trace. Leadieng up to her disappearance, the two got into another fight and for a period Shonnette went to stay with her grandmother but eventually returned to her boyfriend. Benjamin said that Shonnette has threatened to leave her boyfriend permanently and return to live with her family.
“I don’t know what problem she and she boy get but my daughter told me [in the past] she would move on and go start a new life, go away and start a new life. But me ain’t know where she talking about. I know if she and he get wrong she not gon’ go on to stay there no more because she had already told me that she want to come home back,” Benjamin said. Calls to Shonnette’s phone have been going straight to voicemail. She also has not contacted her uncle overseas whom she speaks with regularly or her close friends who have been calling her family’s home daily.
Benjamin hopes that if it is that her daughter is intentionally staying away at a relative or friend that she knows that her family and friends in Linden are worried about her and praying for her safe return. Benjamin said: “I hope nothing ain’t happen to she and I hope people go and look for she because right now I don’t trust nobody…if she’s with any other family I would tell she come home.” Persons with information or knowing of her whereabouts are asked to contact the police or her grandmother, Constance Dover, at 4421616, 6706846 or 6716455.
