Ballards Valley residents hopeful as search for missing Briton enters fourth day
Published:Wednesday | November 8, 2023 | 12:14 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Residents of Ballards Valley in St Elizabeth are optimistic that the strategic search for British national Robert Dyer, which involves the use of canines in the woods they have been scouring since Sunday, will end positively.
"It's a very sad period, and at this time, we are praying and still hopeful that he is alive," Kerry Elliot-Thompson, a member of the Ballards Valley Community Development Committee, told The Gleaner on Monday as efforts to locate the 60-year-old man continued.
Dyer, who arrived in Jamaica on November 3 and was staying with relatives in St Elizabeth, reportedly got lost after going for a nature walk in the hilly forested area on Sunday.
“The citizens are really cooperative, especially the young men in the area. They have been there since Sunday after the news broke. They have been in the woods, helping with the search,” she added.
She said that while the elevated interest of residents in locating the missing man may be the result of a reward being placed on finding him, many others were willing to venture into the woods as soon as the alarm was raised.
“Honesty, I heard that there is a reward, but even before there was a reward, three young men, one of whom I am related to, all went in [into the woods] late Sunday evening,” Elliot-Thompson said.
She said the three young men who went in search of Daley on Sunday lost their bearings and had difficulty finding their way back home.
“While they were still in the woods, it got dark for them, so they lost their way, and they stayed there until Monday morning,” Elliot-Thompson told The Gleaner on Monday.
Acting Superintendent of Police Coleridge Minto, head of the St Elizabeth Police Division, said more than 250 residents were assisting in the search and rescue operation up to Tuesday.
He noted that they were desperately trying to locate Dyer, who was "unable to locate his way back to the house" where he was based.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force are leading the search effort with canine units from both forces also taking part.
"We would have already gone through miles of terrain, and the search is still ongoing as we continue our efforts to locate this individual," Minto said.