Two people are in police custody and a vehicle seized as the police ramp up the investigation into the search for 9-year old Chantel Crump of the Grays-Green Community, who was abducted on Wednesday.
At a press briefing on Thursday held by Acting Commissioner, Everton Jeffers with Assistant Commissioners, Clifton Cabral and Samuel Joseph, it was revealed that around 4:00 pm on Wednesday, Chantel was walking towards her home on #2 George Street, Greenbay, with two friends when a silver vehicle pulled up and a lone female inside the invited her to enter the vehicle, which she did. The last sighting was of Chantel waving goodbye to her friends from inside the vehicle as it drove away.
The police estimate that Chantel was a mere 75 to 100 feet away from her home when the silver vehicle with the lone female stopped, opened the door and invited her in before driving off.
The minor’s family indicated to the police that they do not know this individual who it is reported lured Chantel into the vehicle. It was not known whether or not the person was someone known to the child.
Both parents of the child, Ernest and Marsha Crump took to the media to launch an emotional appear to anyone who may to holding the child to return her to them as soon as possible. There have also been flyers of the missing child posted throughout the community as the police and members of the community launched an island-wide search for Chantel. No area of the island was omitted; from Pares in the east, to Fort James, Sea View Farm, Friar’s Hill Road are among the areas searched.
According to the police there has been a flurry of information reaching the department which has helped them to identify both the vehicle and its owner as well as the person believed to have been the one who lured the minor into the vegicle and drove away.
By late afternoon Thursday, the police reported that they have taken into custody the owner of the vehicle, his girlfriend and the vehicle believed to have been used in the crime, now being treated as an abduction.
However, despite all this, Chantel has not yet been located and the search continues.
In the press briefing, the police indicated that additional equipment would help them in their work, but emphasized that there is no equipment better than human sources as they repeated the call for assistance from members of the public to locate the child.
