By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police Zhivago Dames said police will investigate claims that a call was made to the Carmichael Road Police Station reporting screams heard in the area where a murdered schoolgirl was found.

Adriel Moxey, 12, a seventh-grade student at Anatol Rodgers High School, was found dead in bushes near Faith Avenue South. Police said she was wearing only a shirt, with a cloth hanging around her neck.

Pastor Cleveland Wells, the founding pastor of Restoration Kingdom Ministries and Adriel’s pastor, said that when he learned of the girl’s disappearance, he went searching for her.

He spoke with a local resident and showed him a picture of the young girl.

“I said, ‘Have you seen her?’ And he said, ‘Can you pull the car to the side of the road?’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll pull the car over.’ And Marion said, ‘On Monday night, when I was walking home, it was dark as usual, and I heard a loud scream.’”

Pastor Wells asked, “Was it a scream of someone playing, because Adriel was a happy child, or was it a scream of distress?”

The resident replied: “A scream of distress.”

Pastor Wells said he immediately reported the incident to officers at the Carmichael Road Police Station.

He added that police promised to send a car to the area, so he went back to pick up the resident, and they waited together.

“We waited at the entrance where they would normally go through the gate, and as it got dark, I said to Marion, ‘You and your brother go home before it gets too dark, and I’ll sit in the car and wait.’”

Pastor Wells said he waited, but no one came.

When pressed on the issue yesterday, ACP Dames said he was not aware that a call had been made but pledged to look into it.

“We know that the young child was missing,” he said. “If such a call was made to the police of a young child screaming in a particular area, I would dare say that our officers will react quickly to try to investigate and to see what’s happening in that particular area.”

“But more pointedly, again, to your your question, I’m not aware of such calls being made to the police, but now that you’re you’re saying it here, I will ensure that our officers at the real-time crime centre check our system to see if calls were made, and if it was we have nothing to hide.”