By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE FAMILY of 49-year-old Rufus Frederick Storr camped out at the Montagu Ramp all day yesterday hoping for some good news. However, as day turned into night, Defence Force officers and local jet ski operators had no luck in locating Storr, who disappeared in waters off Cabbage Beach on Sunday.

Police provided little details on Storr’s disappearance other than to say he was last seen on Paradise Island around 3:15pm Sunday.

However, The Tribune understands, Storr went missing after he took a woman, an employee of the Ocean Club, on a ride on his jet ski.

Sources say after the pair left the beach, the woman was picked up out of the water about half an hour later, she was wearing Storr’s life jacket and he was nowhere in sight. His jet ski was discovered a few minutes later beating against some rocks.

The woman is said to have told police that she and Storr went for a ride on the ski when he decided he wanted to go for a swim when they were in deeper water. She said she told him she did not know how to swim so Storr left her on the jet ski and went alone. He never resurfaced. The woman was picked up a short time later by a passerby in a boat.

Sandra Rolle, Storr’s aunt, said she does not believe her nephew drowned because not only was he a jet ski operator for more than 20 years, but he was also on the Defence Force for almost 10 years.

“He knows how to swim, he knows what he is doing out there, he did not just get into this business. No one is telling us anything. The police aren’t saying nothing. We have our own people, his friends, other jet ski operators looking for him. They were going as far as Eleuthera and none of them saw anything,” she said.

“He has two daughters and a son, they want to know what is going on. We all do. We keep hearing about this woman he was with, why hasn’t she said anything to us, why was she wearing his vest? The story we heard is not making sense to us. She was the last one with him, she is the key to this puzzle. We are just hoping for the best and we aren’t giving up. He was such a nice person, everyone loved him. He was the only jet ski operator on the back of Ocean Club, that alone speaks volumes.”

Police are asking anyone who may have been in the area at the time of Storr’s disappearance to contact them immediately.