Elizabeth Achieng sat in front of her house in Thim Bonde in Nyahera in Kisumu County with her two fists supporting her chin.
Heavy with sadness and despair having searched for her missing daughter since last week on Sunday, tears rolled down her cheeks, amplifying the deep pain Ms Achieng has had to bear in the past 11 days having searched for her missing daughter without success.
Her daughter Tamrina Benita Amara whom she fondly calls ‘Baby’, left home to take a walk. That was the last time she saw her.
Ms Achieng, who described her daughter as slim, tall, chocolate in complexion and keeps short hair, says Tamrina woke up to her routine chores and later left for church.
“She returned home after attending the Sunday School service around 10 am. When I left for the next service she asked me to bring her fried potato chips when I got back,” said Ms Achieng.
However, while her mother was still in church, Tamrina is said to have prepared lunch which she took together with her younger sister Neema then the two girls set off to visit an uncle as their father, James Oyoo, remained in the house to take an afternoon nap.
Intriguingly, while six-year-old Neema made it to the uncle's house, 15-year-old Tamrina is reported to have proceeded on a stroll around Thim Bonde.
She was wearing a green dress top, green tights and a pair of slippers.
She carried nothing, not even a handkerchief. Panic would later grip her parents when she failed to return home by nightfall.
“My daughter Neema told me… Mum Baby hayuko, aliniambia niingie tu anenda kutembea kidogo . (Mum, Baby did not come with me, she said she was going for a stroll),” said Ms Achieng.
A search team comprising relatives and neighbours was quickly formed and for the better part of the night they searched for the teenage girl in homes and nearby bushes.
Some witnesses would later report that they spotted Tamrina in the company of one of their neighbours identified as Bernard Otieno Ochieng.
Tamrina's parents quickly paid the 20-year-old Ochieng a visit only for the young man to deny knowledge of their daughter's whereabouts. Ms Achieng and her husband went to bed worried sick that night.
Elizabeth Achieng' Ochieng' speaks to the Nation at her home in Thim Bonde, Kisumu North Ward, Kisumu West Constituency on November 19, 2024.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation Media Group
The following day, On Monday, November 11, 2024, the parents filed a ‘Missing Person’s Report’ at Bonde Police Post and Maseno Police Station and continued with the search.
The couple got a breakthrough two days later when they received information that their daughter had been seen at a place called Njeri in Karachuonyo, Homa Bay County, 101 Kilometers away from home.
“We found out that the young man Ochieng had booked our daughter in a matatu to his sister's home in Karachuonyo. She stayed for the night but when Mr Ochieng joined her the following morning, his sister threw them out claiming she was uncomfortable with their presence in her home,” said Mr Oyoo.
Ochieng and Tamrina would later be spotted in Anding’o Opanga in Nyakach, Kisumu County on Monday 18.
Later on the same day, a motorcycle operator ferried Tamrina to Kolweny stage, where she boarded a Kisumu-bound vehicle around 10 am. That was the last time she was seen.
Police would later track Mr Ochieng, who had also gone missing, to Nyakach sub-county where they arrested him on Monday night and later transferred him to Maseno Police Station where Tamrina's disappearance had been reported.
He was later presented before Maseno Law Courts where investigators filed a miscellaneous application seeking to hold him for 10 more days in order to complete investigations into a suspected case of abduction of a minor.
The court however granted the investigating officers seven days hoping to prefer additional charges against the suspect upon finding the missing teenager.
“The boy is 20 years old, we fear he might have brainwashed our daughter and abducted her. We fear that something bad might happen to her if she is not found as soon as possible,” said Mr Oyoo.
Tamrina, who is the firstborn, has been described by her parents as an introvert who only opens up to one cousin.
Her parents fear that she might not be able to get help easily since she may not share her predicament with strangers.
“There was no known disagreement between Baby and I or any of the family members which could have pushed her out of the house. The past 11 days have been a nightmare for everyone in the family. This is torture. Whoever might have come across her, kindly reach out,” pleaded Ms Achieng.
The teenager’s sister is said to have been affected by the disappearance prompting her to skip meals.
“My message to Baby is please come home. You should not think that I will punish you in case you ran away, which I am sure you did not. I miss you and I just want you back home safe,” appealed the distraught mother.
Nelly Oyoo (left) the grandmother to Tamrina Benita Amara, at the family's home in Thim Bonde, Kisumu North Ward, Kisumu West Constituency on November 19, 2024.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation Media Group
The girl’s grandmother, Nelly Oyoo, on her part, has appealed to the suspect to cooperate with the detectives and disclose the whereabouts of her granddaughter.
“I am sure Ochieng could be knowing where Tamrina is. He should just be a good person and provide that information. We just want justice for the child, we want her back home,” said Ms Oyoo.
She said as a family they will figure out the next course of action after they find the missing girl.
The family has also sought help from the Kisumu Bus terminus operators and the police post at the terminus to establish whether their daughter alighted in Kisumu.
Ms Achieng said that the next places they are going to focus their search lights on are hospitals within Kisumu to find out whether the girl checked herself in any of the facilities.
Since Tamrina went missing nobody has contacted her family for ransom, raising their hope that their daughter is still alive.
