“My God don’t sleep” was the sombre yet resolute message from the family of Chefette employee Sonia Parris who fear the body pulled from a well on Sunday night is that of their missing loved one.
The decomposed body was recovered from a well in Carmichael, St George after a nearly five-hour operation that ended after 11 p.m. on Sunday, the same day scores of people formed a search party to find the 58-year-old Edey Village, Christ Church resident who went missing last Wednesday. According to the police, the discovery was made after they were contacted earlier that evening by a man walking his dog, when the animal detected a scent emanating from the well.
Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Brewster, who was on the scene at Carmichael, said there was a possibility it was Parris’ body, but due to the state of decomposition, testing would have to be carried out to confirm.
Even without that confirmation, the missing woman’s family members and members of her community fear the worst. She was reportedly last seen leaving her job at the fast food restaurant’s Wildey, St Michael branch, in her uniform, at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Her partially burnt car was subsequently found in a track in Jordans, St George.
The youngest of her five children, Britney Phillips, 24, who spoke to Barbados TODAY on behalf of the family, described her mother as “the Tinker Bell of the family”, referring to the ever-ready fairy sidekick of the Peter Pan play.
“That’s the simplest way to describe who she was to us,” said Phillips. “She was just there when you needed her and she was always in our corner. She always had our backs, always looked out for [us]…. She always was front row to anything we had going on… that’s the type of person she was. Outside of home, she would just move by she self and do what would make she happy.”
Admitting that her mother was her closest friend, the heartbroken young woman, whose face was a testament to sleep deprivation said: “[She] was the go-to person for me for anything… whenever we needed her she would come running.”
She told Barbados TODAY that as she awaited news from the search party who had gone to the well on Sunday evening, she held onto the parts of her that believed that her mother would’ve been found safe, while trying to drown all the negative thoughts.
Admitting to finding a strong support system of family, friends and colleagues, Phillips said: “We’re really asking for some time to process and keep each other together. We want to thank everybody for coming out and showing us the support and helping us try to find [her].”
Another member of the family shared his gratitude for the effort of everyone involved in the recovery of Parris’ body. However, he shared his belief that “things could have ended different or at least faster if people were willing to just look at their cameras and share what they see”. “Everybody has dash cams and so forth nowadays. But I’m not complaining. I’m grateful for the help we got,” he said.
In the meantime, as the community grapples with the devastating news, members say they hope that justice is swift and fair.
“The whole community is just sad right now. We feel good they find [her] but we were hoping she would be alive…. But at least we have closure. I’m only hoping they find the [person who did this] and deal with him,” said one villager.
