It is 72 days now since 28-year-old Oren McKenzie, of Gran Couva, disappeared without a trace.And his parents Ben and Stella say as each day goes by it is taking a piece out of them.McKenzie disappeared on June 14 after he left home to buy items at a grocery in Couva.He was last seen around 6 pm the same day after he entered a PH taxi at Isaac Junction.He is the only child of his parents, who own Stella's Bar opposite the Gran Couva Police Station. McKenzie is also the father of a three-year old boy.
His father Ben said what confuses the family most is that to date the police have not picked up the printouts of his son's Digicel phone records to assist them in the probe."I went to the Digicel office in Port-of-Spain soon after Oren went missing and was told the information about the last calls my son made is printed out and ready to be collected."They said I could not collect it, that there are only three officers in the country who can pick them up," Ben McKenzie told the T&T Guardian yesterday.
The senior McKenzie said he got the names of the police and took the information to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad in Central so they could contact their colleagues.But McKenzie said the Central division AKS said they had also been waiting to for records for other cases for several months from their colleagues and advised him to get the media to highlight the matter.He said the case was aired on Crime Watch three times but there has been no word on his son as yet.
"People keep telling me they spotted him in Preysal, Freeport, Mayaro. I would rush to those places and search but would not find him anywhere," McKenzie said.He said on the last occasion a woman said she saw his son in a Freeport supermarket. He went to thew supermarket, got a security camera recording and searched every face but did not see his son.He said his wife Stella, who cries constantly, is diabetic and suffers with a heart condition.
"My health has taken a nosedive with all the stress but it is Stella I am most worried about," he said.McKenzie said his gut feeling is that his son is alive and left home because of problems he had."We heard a girl is pregnant and the child might be his. And he had problems at work," he said."The police told us he is a big man and can do what he wants. But we love him very much and would like him to come home. Oren, if you are out there, please forgive us if we have hurt you."
McKenzie said the family is now relying solely on prayers to bring their son home.