Distraught mother pleads for help to find missing 20-y-o son
By Fitsroy Randall, BVI News Staff
Ahelia Turnbull’s voice quavered while she made an impassioned plea to the public to help locate her 20-year-old son Kelvin Turnbull Jr, who has been missing since New Year’s Eve.
Police reports indicate that Turnbull Jr boarded the 36-foot long vessel Avanti Gorda Sound on December 31 along with 22-year-old Korey Prince and the pair have not been seen or heard from since.
Turnbull Jr, a self-employed truck driver, resided in Little Dix Bay and was last seen in Baugher’s Bay. Turnbull Jr’s mother said she is not aware if he and Prince are friends as she had never met him before and her son never mentioned him to her.
His mother said she last spoke to her on December 28, 2021, when she checked in on him.
“I was not here when my son went missing. I was on holiday in the United States and texted him the Tuesday [before his disappearance] just to ask him how he was doing, and he said he was okay,” Mrs Turnbull said.
“I would like to ask for the public’s assistance. If anybody knows anything of where they are at or what happened, I am asking them to reach out to me. They don’t have to identify themselves. I just want to know what happened and where they are. They can call. I am not going to ask any questions about anything that they are involved in. I just want to know where my son is at or if anybody knows what happened to them,” the distraught mother continued.
Mrs Turnbull remembers her son as a fun-loving and introverted person who had a gift for bringing joy to others when he was around.
“My son is a very funny and jovial boy. He likes to make a lot of jokes. He makes people laugh. He doesn’t like a lot of company. He is a very private person. He’s just a person like that. He has very few friends, he does not have a lot of friends,” she shared with BVI News.
Mrs Turnbull said she has been following up constantly with the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) for updates but the news she has received have not been favourable.
“They don’t really have many updates or any knowledge of their whereabouts. They told me they have reached out to all of the neighbouring islands and countries, and nothing has come up about them,” she told our news centre.
Mrs Turnbull is pleading with the public to reach out to her if they have any information on her son’s whereabouts as she just wants to bring her child home.
People with information can reach out to her at (284) 499-8479 or they can contact her husband Kelvin Sr at (284) 499-9432.
The RVIPF is also urging persons with information to contact the Police Intelligence Unit at (284) 368-9339.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
I feel your pain
Don’t play around. Concrete sneakers off Ging Island..
If not dead they are held up somewhere I guess.
Knows what our bids are involved in and some enjoying what they bring home ,knowing they ain’t working anywhere / but things start when things start to happen we act surprised
@some of us this is not 5he place and now is not the time to be making statements like that please have a heart
i agree with you cause the street is talking and he the same prince is lock up aboard. and the john brother as well sean and shannon.
she need to ask his friends he working for what happen.
Wow it looks to me like you know more than the parents them do . If you know what he was doing and where he is please do us a favor and tell the police. You are a heartless person to make assumption about his parents knowing anything about what he’s doing he had moved out of their house since he was 18 years of age if you have children ,adult children do you always know where they are what they’re doing and who they’re spending time with? Come on give this mother a break. I hope you never have to wonder where any of your lover are if they are alive or dead.
I agree with you and yes i hope one day my daughter don’t make no dumb mistake but if she do ill send by her side.
but he moved out the house no job and have a truck business as I read some where else. the street like me put that out their for you. are saying his people that he work for knows where that boat was going and what it was going to do.
why you think the police have not put any information out about this, think on that.
also i can give this mother a break cause i feel her pain not knowing where my child is will drive me crazy, and i hope he is okay but be real with me.
you know by the company you keep and the word on the street is he is lock up dont know its true or not but it didnt had any rough weather around that time and the boat is a bright color boat that you cant miss. he and who ever didnt left at night that their couldnt see. and once again the street say its a drop off or pick up gone bad..
so once again yes i feel her pain but as you say he moved out on his own making his money not once did she ask where you getting this money from and how. NOOOO RIGHT.
His dad i saw going round in his taxi with a smile on his face he maybe he know what his son was doing but the mother don’t.
i know you might think I’m heartless but its part of life we want our children to do good but s**t happen it call life. we just have to hope and pray our kids turn out how we want them too.
i hope he is oh okay where ever he is and i hope once he come out safe he rethink on his choose.
once again open your eyes you will see the answer for this story right before you.
Check the French jails. They are known for holding people for years without giving any information about their foreign prisoners.
If the boat hasn’t been found then it is that they are in a foreign jail, or sadly have been killed.
Under the photo says missing since Christmas Eve and in the body of article states New Years eve.
The article said, “His mother said she last spoke to her on December 28, 2021, when she checked in on him.”
This whole article and the way these “news” outlets report is a disservice to the BVI.
Strongly agree with your Comment. I suggest these folks take the time to gather and print their information more precisely and accurately. ( Christmas Eve versus New Year’s Eve) ( him or her) (Spoke to or text) Come on, get with the Program!
Can we just start with who owned the boat they traveled on. What was/is their backgrounds, friends, family members, virgin islands connections. Does anyone know where they were headed and for what reason? Any info on pirate activity in the area in which they traveled…..can the police check with police in neighboring ports etc….
It seems that we just can’t allow this situation to fizzle out. Listen to the pain of this dear mother.
Who the boats belongs to? Were they working for the owner? Did they go on a charter? Where were they headed? Engine trouble? Boat drifting? Arrested?
Has the boat been located? Which way was it headed? What time of day?
Answer these questions and you may be able to start piecing something together.
Virgin Islands police even try find out who was the owner of the boat they left on? Don’t you think the owner knows to such an why he give them his boat, an where there were goin? They not even pressing the “ISSUE” Hellloooo People’s Children are missing!!!! It could be your brother, friend or your child!!…
Well,typical of the VI is the big secret. Everything concerning everything is a secret. Aren boats registered…who is owner…name him/her.. could possibly nudge more inf if people knew the owner..has the owner reported the boat missing..then again, BVI is a cagey protective tight-lipped government and police when it comes to their drug side hustle and its players.
Your son went for fast money and wearing iron shoes being a statue for the fishes
This is so cruel! His mom is simply trying to do what any loving parent would do.
you just saying the facts. she looking for her son yes. but what people finally to see he know what he was getting him self in. I hope he is found he and the other young man. but we dont know what are kids are doing these day we just have to pray for them
Is the boat still missing also ?
streets saying French side
If you have kids you well know they do not always listen to their peers parents don’t always know what their kids are doing especially when they are not living home good or bad a mother will always love her kids so people stop bashing the parents and please pray for them
where was she all the time ? Like some one blogged some AH we knows what our kids are involved with and even enjoys the luxury the
kids suddenly owns from out of nowhere ?
Omg you people stop it I pray that you never experience what these parents are going through
Never board any boat in the Caribbean that could be going anywhere unless you know the destination and its seaworthiness and most importantly trust ALL the persons operating the boat.
Facts
I heard that he is in lock up in St Martin
Finding the boys is the utmost priority as they are human and most important they are someone’s child.
I don’t live on the island anymore but I lived there for 16 consecutive years. The police will know something but will never tell… “nature’s little secret.”
My advise is to have the public protest to have this case move quickly as time is ticking. However, the pride of many tolians will never allow themselves to go out there and help someone in this way unless it is a “popular person.”
In my experience every boat “may” be equipped with satellite or GPS or both. Regardless of whether or not this boat had any reliable electronic devices on board the BVI coast guard boat had their satellite turned on, and it is turned on 24/7 and recording day and night. It records boat that’s has no electronics and boats that does, boats that are 5 foot in length and boats that are very very large. The BVI coast guard satellite feed CAN BE REWINDED to see which direction that boat was headed until it is out of the BVI waters and into another territory. The BVI may not have jurisdiction to view another countries satellite feed but IT CAN CERTAINLY TELL THE MOTHERS OF THOSE TWO KIDS WHICH DIRECTION THAT BOAT WAS HEDED.
DONT BE FOOLED people… the police knows something. One reason they may be holding back information is to “continue investing a BIGGER FISH in order to have enough evidence to CAPTURE that BIGGER FISH.” History will tell you the truth of how the BVI territory operates just ask the old timers.
-A
Check Guadalupe jail that’s the talk in the good both of them