Cops still hunting suspected abductor of St Thomas girls
Published:Saturday | December 18, 2021 | 12:08 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer
BUFF BAY, Portland:
The manhunt for Davian Bryan, a Portland man suspected to have abducted of two young girls in St Thomas in October, is still on, the police have said.
The abduction of the girls – aged nine and 13 – days apart had triggered national panic and outrage and the two girls were found after a massive search in which hundreds of citizens and various agencies partnered with the security forces to locate the victims.
“It’s not old enough for us to clarify it as a cold case and I would definitely say that we have not relaxed our investigation,” Dennis Brooks, senior communication strategist in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, told The Gleaner on Thursday during the official opening of the Buff Bay Police Station in Portland.
He said that Bryan, who was before the courts on other charges, remains a fugitive.
“When the investigation [had] just began, in the first phase, it was all about finding the girls. A massive amount of policing resources were brought in to find those girls safely and we did the best that we could where that was concern. Now investigations to find him continue. He is a fugitive at this point and we continue our work in that regard,” Brooks said.
He added that the same amount of law enforcement resources brought in to find the girls would not be utilised to find the suspect as it was a different sort of operation.
“But the search for him continues,” he assured. “The last briefing that I got from the St Thomas police, they were still following leads and intelligence where that was concerned.”
Brooks said that the cops believe Bryan had received assistance to elude them.
“He’s someone who knows the deep bush very well, from his background., and we believe that he gained some sort of support from person or persons, who were sympathetic to him,” he told The Gleaner.
He is urging persons who could assist with their investigations to contact the police at 119 or make a report at the nearest police station. They may also call Crime Stop at 311.