The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Clayton Fernander defended investigations into the disappearance of Devin Isaacs, 16, after the teen’s mother criticised authorities for sending a Marco’s Alert four days after he was reported missing.

“There’s two sides of the story,” Commissioner Fernander said during a press briefing yesterday.

“Our officers were on board with that from day one. They even went as far as getting footage and checking the area. As mentioned, doing some door-to-door and trying to reach out to individuals, some of his friends, and we are still on top of that, but get the facts and the bottom line is we’re trying to ensure that we find this young child.” 

The teen’s mother, Tashana Thompson, told The Tribune she was upset about the length of time it took for police to send out the alert and credited her relentless efforts online for getting authorities’ attention.

Yesterday, Commissioner Fernander expressed disappointment in her remarks, noting that a missing person alert is usually sent out for young children, but was issued because the teen is still a minor.

“This individual is 16 years, but we still used our initiative and said we would send it out because that is a missing person,” Commissioner Fernander said.

“That still is a child and we had that our missing person flyer that was out and I made the decision yesterday evening to send it out through Marco’s Alert and we did just that.”

Ms Thompson said she last saw her son, also known as “Joey”, after 9pm on Wednesday at home.

The mother of three said she found out about her son’s disappearance after waking up from her sleep.

“I believe he gone outside to talk to somebody with the intention of coming back inside. Somebody holding him against his will,” she said.

However, Commissioner Fernander said police do not suspect the teenager is being held hostage based on information they have received. 

“We are following some leads as to where this individual may be and hopefully between now and the end of the day, we may find him safe and sound,” he said.