By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE brother of a 47-year-old missing man is determined to find his mentally ill relative, who was last seen a month ago.

“I will continue searching for my brother even if I have to find his body, but I will not give up,” he said.

Kendrick Lafleur told The Tribune he and his brother, Samuel Lafleur, live on Andros.

“I have people telling me that they saw him about two weeks before I discovered that he was missing,” he said yesterday.

He said his brother had been hooked on marijuana over the years.

“He went to school in America in the early 2000s,” he said. “We did not see him for about seven years. We used to hear from him, but we never saw him personally. Our mom died, then he came back, and then I realised he looked like he had challenges going on.”

Mr Lafleur said his brother’s marijuana habits caused him to behave abnormally; the man was admitted to Sandilands four times.

Describing his brother’s habits under the influence of marijuana, Mr Lafleur said he kept himself dirty, talked to himself and ate things he picked off the ground.

“Even if he sees a leftover beer bottle, he will drink it,” he said. “But once he’s normal, he would never do those sorts of things.”

Although Mr Lafleur is the primary caretaker for Samuel, the brothers live in different settlements on Andros, with the younger brother living alone in Nicholls Town.

Since the disappearance of Samuel, family members and residents have united to look for him.

Mr Lafleur said he initially took matters into his own hands and didn’t report his brother missing to the police until last week.

“Every day I get up and I go out looking to ease my mind,” he said. “Because if I sit back and wait on them to do it, I feel that’s time wasted for my brother. I don’t want to comment too much on the police because I don’t know how their protocols operate. I don’t know in terms of the way they do searches for missing persons. I’m a little disappointed, but I’m putting my focus on looking for my brother.”