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Tomorrow, February 27, marks four years since visually impaired university student Jasmine Deen disappeared on her way home from classes about 9 p.m.

Her father, Lloyd, despite being nowhere closer to finding her, is not giving up in his search. He believes they will have a happy reunion in the future.

"Mi can't think about death, and mi still have hopes and think say mi daughter alive. All mi know seh she missing, and mi want back Jasmine. The only time mi a guh believe seh she dead is if mi see her body and mi nuh see anything. Mi still search for my daughter," Lloyd told THE STAR.

He added: "Mi hear about people go missing for all 20 years and dem find dem back, so mi just a pray with all of mi might that this a go be the case with my little girl."

Researchers in 2022 examined data from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and found that at least 1,000 people go missing annually in Jamaica.

In the study, The Dilemma of Missing People in Jamaica: A Societal Disintegration of the Family Structure and a Gendered Phenomenon, the researchers said that based on the data, it takes an average nine days for a missing male to be confirmed dead and 38 days for a missing female to be confirmed dead.

Data for the study covered the period from 2018 through to July 31, 2022. Over the period, 8,326 were reported missing. In 2020, the year Deen went missing, 1,615 persons were reported missing. Of that number, 1,210 were recorded as having returned home and 53 were confirmed dead. The researchers found that males are four times more likely to be killed, compared to females.

For Lloyd Deen, the impact of his daughter -- who was 22 at the time she went missing -- being missing cannot be measured in statistics. He said the toll of having a child going missing, without a trace, weighs heavily on parents.

"Every day mi get up and watch the females dem go missing," he said, adding that it appears as if investigators have lost interest in searching for her.

"Everything just dead and mi just can't see mi little girl," said the distraught father, who is convinced that she may be the victim of human trafficking.

"This come een like a moneymaking thing, because people just don't go around and kidnap people like that. Somebody knows what is happening and what happen to my daughter. Mi daughter have a disability because she blind, so mi want to know what a man would want to do with a blind girl. Mi nuh understand this, because somebody in dem right mind could never ever think about hurting a blind woman," Deen said.

The anniversary of Jasmine Deen's disappearance comes as Millicent McCurdy, the mother of entertainer Stephanie 'Meddik' Williams, awaits DNA results to determine whether skeletal remains found in a cane field in St Catherine could be that of her child.

Medikk, whose real name is Stephanie Williams, was reported missing to the Constant Spring Police on August 24 of last year, after leaving her home that afternoon. A body suspected to be that of the dancehall artiste was found in a cane field in Wallen, St Catherine, on Valentine's Day.

"The body will be processed and compared with DNA samples to determine its true identity," Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey said.

Lloyd Deen said his heart sank when he heard news the skeletal remains found in a cane field.

"Bwoy, mi know it rough on her mother, but mi a encourage her to hold the faith. If the result come back say is she, well the mother gonna get closure, but she nah guh get back her daughter. This just show say wicked people deh a road, but mi tell her say just pray and hold the faith. A dat mi a do fi my 'Jassie'," he said.