By LEDEDRA MARCHE

Senior FN Reporter

lededramarche@yahoo.com

Numb with grief, Veronica Smith's mother found it hard yesterday to bring the words out to describe her slain daughter as she sat in a love seat with her head tilted in her hand.

Lorraine Thomas had only learned six days ago her daughter was missing after getting an uneasy feeling that something was terribly wrong.

Veronica, 26, was weighing heavily on her heart when she woke up that morning. She began to pray and decided to call her daughter at work.

Brianne, as she was affectionately called by her middle name, had grown up in Grand Bahama, graduated from St. Georges High and moved to New Providence about four years ago to further her education.

After completing two years of studies in chemistry at College of The Bahamas, she began working and had eventually moved in with a co-worker.

She remained with the company for nearly two years.

Her cousin Ann Carey revealed yesterday what Thomas did after getting that unnerving feeling.

"That was midday when she called Brianne's work, her co-workers said they were concerned because she didn't show up for work that morning and that wasn't like her," she said.

In fact, Carey says Thomas learned that Brianne had left work early Thursday after feeling ill.

After checking Brianne's Chippingham home and not getting a response, the co-workers phoned Thomas back and told her.

Thomas flew into the capital that very evening and filed a missing person's report.

Two days later, the police learned of and retrieved the body of a woman from a mangrove swamp in Adelaide Village. It had been stuffed in a barrel.

Police believe the woman had been there for more than 24 hours.

She was bound at the hands and feet, partially clothed and police say its advanced state of decomposition has made it difficult to make a positive identification.

But Brianne's family was still called in.

Although a positive identification has yet to be made, the family believes it is Brianne.

"We were devastated," said Carey. "Because we were hoping for the best. Even though persons were saying maybe she went off, knowing her character, she wasn't somebody who would just disappear and go without telling anyone."

Carey says her aunt is a Christian woman and is garnering her strength from God.

She described Brianne as quiet, full of life, very ambitious and "just a very giving person."

Brianne was enamoured with forensic science and was making plans to attend college abroad towards her aspiration to become a specialist before her untimely demise.

The fourth of six children, Brianne had three sisters and two brothers and was "extremely close to her mother."

Carey says all Brianne's mother wishes for now is for justice to be done.

"If you had known Brianne, God knows she didn't deserve it. We don't know why God allowed it to happen, so the only thing we could do is just trust God and I guess later down you'd probably understand," she said.

At last report, two men, including a 19-year-old Chippingham resident, were in police custody assisting in the investigation.