Four Weeks of Silence: Family Seeks Answers in Fishermen’s Disappearance
It has been four weeks without a word—four weeks of unanswered questions. Odessa Smith is desperate for news about her partner, Shalico Charles, who went missing on December 1. Charles wasn’t a full-time fisherman but owned a fishing boat as a side venture.
Smith recounted that on the fateful day, Charles left home to assist the boat’s captain with hauling fishing pots.
“To be honest, he’s not really a fisherman. Most of his work is on land. He has a business where he transports workers. But he also owns a fishing boat that he rents out for others to work on,” Smith explained. “That Sunday, he just went to help the captain with some fishing pots.”
Smith tried to contact Charles throughout the day, but her calls went unanswered. By evening, her worry turned into panic. She reached out to a friend who had spoken to Charles earlier in the day.
“His friend called his brother, then his uncle, and then other people with boats. They told me they were getting ready to go out and look for him. They went out that same night,” she said. “When they called me after midnight, they told me they hadn’t found anything.”
The Defense Force initially conducted an active search but scaled back efforts after five days. Smith feels they gave up too soon and urges authorities to continue.
“I would say, search everywhere. Don’t leave any stone unturned,” she pleaded. “Sometimes, the simplest places we overlook are where answers can be found.”
The ordeal has taken a significant emotional toll on Smith and her family, particularly her three sons, aged 4, 14, and 16.
“My four-year-old keeps asking about his father,” she shared. “And my 16-year-old, he’s struggling at school. He just turned 16 recently and told me, ‘Mommy, it’s so hard to celebrate my birthday without my dad here to wish me.’ That really broke my heart.”
For Smith, hope is all that remains. She continues to plead for ongoing efforts to locate the missing men and bring them back home.
“Please, keep the search going,” she said. “We need them back.”
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These guys have been missing for over a month, and not a word from the authorities, all they are talking about is how many private jets have landed on barbuda. People open up your eyes
LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, I pray in the Mighty and Matchless Name of Jesus that these men will be found soon and found alive. Jesus only You know the pain that their loved ones feel by their absence and ONLY You ALONE can perform this miracle. LORD, do what only You can and reunion this family with joy and hope in Jesus’ Mighty Name I pray AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!!
This stupid way the weather report is given in antigua and Barbuda is the problem, down in the virgin islands the weather is forecast every hour an half because they have ferries running and fisher folks and sailing industry, and forecasted in intelligible language too, not the university semantics that alienates regular people from understanding what those words mean, all the radio stations here only serve personal purpose of there owners, a utility commission and a media commission needed to enforce public service announcement in these medias, the quality of radio in Antigua has not matured as yet because they barely got established after years of media stifling by the ALP government. Only since the UPP administration there became radio broadcast freedom. The ALP had have to contend with white supervision of allowing the derricks to broadcast by the edict of the privy council, but Tim Hector was the first to win at privy council for press freedom.