UPDATE: Int'l search team for Aunt Rita relying on canine help
The elderly woman went missing on December 2, 2012.
According to Mr Mooney, Klasskids has been in constant contact with the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) and has been getting a high level of cooperation from Detective Inspector Nigel Niven who has since fostered a link with the USVI as it relates to the team securing search dogs.
“Detective Nevin has been extremely resourceful, very cooperative to the extent that we are currently talking with St Thomas to see if they would be able to assist us with having the kind of search dogs that we may need for the search of this family’s loved one,” said Mr Mooney, who is also a canine handler with klaaskids foundation.
One of Aunt Rita’s daughters, Mrs Veda Faulkner-Elliott who said she reached out to Klaaskids foundation for help and got a positive response, had recently issued a call for assistance for persons with cadaver dogs to join the search party as well as divers.
Mr Moonley said their foundation receives calls almost on a daily basis for potential new cases. For the first half of 2013 they were contacted for seventy one (71) missing persons cases from twenty (21) states and three (3) international countries. While noting that not all their cases require searches, forty seven (47) cases have been resolved, seventeen (17) search and rescue in three (3) states and of the seventeen (17), thirteen (13) persons were found or recovered.
A candle light vigil is being planned for Ms Faulkner-Clinton and will be held on September 20 at the Anegada Community Library from 7:30 P.M.
See previous story published on September 4, 2013:
Alternative care was being sought for Auntie Rita- Daughter
-Pleas for more volunteers to assist in search; wants more cadaver dogs, divers
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Alternative care was being sought for Mrs Marguerita Faulkner-Clinton when she suddenly disappeared on Anegada on December 2, 2012.
This is according to the woman’s daughter, Mrs Veda Faulkner-Elliot, who spoke exclusively to Virgin Islands News Online from her residence in Florida, USA.
Ms Faulkner-Elliot made it clear that the family was not pointing fingers at anyone and was still holding on to the hope that the elderly woman would be found.
“At this time we really don’t want to focus on blaming anyone or anything like that because at this time we don’t know, we just don’t know. We at this stage want to focus our attention on appealing for additional resources to assist us in getting the best search possible for some clue of what may have happen to our mother.” said Mrs Faulkner-Elliot.
The woman said because she has not given up hope of some form of closure to her mother’s case, she took the initiative of seeking assistance and was successful in getting the USA-based search organization KlassKids to travel to the VI to conduct yet another search for her mother.
KlassKids is expected in the Virgin Islands on September 18, 2013. Mrs Faulkner-Elliot is also seizing the opportunity to appeal to persons or organisations who may have more advanced search tools to volunteer to intensify the new search effort. She said divers and cadaver dogs were especially needed.
“One of the subjects I would like you to focus on is the need for additional resources that are needed to complete a thorough investigation into my mother's disappearance. We need cadaver dogs. To date we have not been able to secure those particular dogs for this search. There were some dogs utilized initially, but they were only utilized minimally. Just as KlaasKids is volunteering their services, we are looking for someone to volunteer cadaver dogs and their time to help. If we would also get some divers to look that would be even better.”
The daughter said nine months was no time for the family to give up hope and while they refuse to point finger they are some lurking concerns in their heads. According to the woman, who communicated to this news agency via telephone and exchanges of emails, there were some concerns with their mother’s care and the family was considering other options for her care when she mysterious disappeared.
Acknowledging that Mrs Marguerita Faulkner-Clinton suffered from dementia, they initially felt it may have been a major factor in her disappearance; however, at this point they do not know what to think. “All we want is answers or the return of our mother for us to love and care for,” appealed the woman.
“This is a real, true, surreal tragedy that my family would not in our wildest dreams imagine we would be experiencing,” she added and also said that unlike others, they are not concerned with the money that they don't have. “….because our bank accounts are not as plentiful as they were when my mother was among us. We are missing her presence, love, and unfailing affection,” she stated.
Faulkner-Clinton has been missing since December 2, 2012 despite several search operations that included public spirited residents, Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, HM Customs and the US Coast Guard.
On September 18, 2013 a U.S. based search team organised by her daughter Mrs Veda Faulkner-Elliott of Florida USA will lead yet another search for the missing woman.
The USA team is from the KlassKids Foundation (KKF) and is scheduled to arrive in the Territory on September 18, 2013 to begin a six-day search on Anegada for Mrs Clinton-Faulkner or to uncover any evidence that could help in advancing the investigation into her disappearance.
While the KKF principally carries out search operations for children in the US, the Foundation has agreed to provide assistance in searching for Mrs Faulkner-Clinton in Anegada.
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