WEDNESDAY, JULY 18: The mother of a missing man yesterday said he had suffered from drug problems in the past — but that there was no reason for him to disappear.
And Madeline Rampersad appealed to Rudy Smith, who has been missing for ten days: “Rudy, come home.”
Ms Rampersad said her son, 39, who lived at the family home in Pembroke, had been treated for substance abuse in the past and remained an occasional user of drugs.
But she added: “Rudy didn’t get himself in trouble with anyone — and he never stayed away from home. It’s a mystery — I have no idea where he’s gone.
Vanished
“It’s just like he vanished off the face of the earth.”
Ms Rampersad said: “People are saying they have seen him, but I’m pleading with him to make some kind of contact with me if he can.
“You can’t sleep — you’re just wondering all types of things.”
Father-of-one Mr Smith, pictured right, was last seen on Monday, July 9, about 6pm, when he left the family home to visit his girlfriend, in Devonshire.
He told his girlfriend he was heading home — but never showed up.
Police on Monday recovered Mr Smith’s motorcycle from the sea near Grace Methodist Church on North Shore Road.
Ms Rampersad said: “There didn’t seem anything wrong — he just left to see his girlfriend and we haven’t seen him since.”
Ms Rampersad, speaking in the garden of her well-tended home, added that she was “hoping and praying” her son would come back.
She said: “Sometimes, I’m sitting here and I think he will just come in the gate there.”
Mr Rampersad added: “I think if my son was around and he knew all these people were looking for him, he would make contact — maybe if he’s not still around, not alive, he couldn’t make contact.
“But I’m still praying that my son will show up.”
Ms Rampersad added Mr Smith was a gentle man with no obvious enemies, and no personal stresses that would cause him to disappear.
She said: “He had been on drugs, he’d been in Turning Point, he’s been in rehab — I wouldn’t say he was clean, but he wasn’t really into drugs.
“He is a nice person, a beautiful person – I never heard one person say they didn’t like him. That’s what kind of person he is.
“Rudy had been through trying times with drugs, but he had cleaned up. I don’t care if he did drugs — he is a nice person and my son.
“I just want him to come home. There are folks around, people are looking for him and good people will look out for Rudy.”
Ms Rampersad added that Mr Smith rarely strayed from his home area and earned a living repairing bikes, cleaning cars and doing some gardening work.
She said: “He is always in the neighbourhood — everybody here knows Rudy.”
Ms Rampersad added: “Rudy’s a humble person and sometimes when people are humble, other people take advantage of them.”
Mr Smith’s sister Tanna lives in Atlanta, while brother Ricardo Rampersad lives in Flatts. A 17-year-old son by a previous relationship lives in Pembroke.