(Trinidad Express) The search for missing 23-year-old Andrea Bharatt ended yesteday afternoon in the forests off Aripo Road, Sangre Grande.
Confirmation came in a media release from police at around 4.30pm.
The body was found by a scrap iron dealer driving through the area at around 12.20pm.
The head was facing down.
The body was clad in underwear and multi-coloured top.
The confirmation came through the clothing.
It was the nightmare ending what everyone had prayed would not happen.
Police believe she was killed days ago.
The Anti Kidnapping Unit and Special Operations Response Team (SORT) were involved in seven-day search for Bharatt.
A joint police and solider team had been searching the forests in north east Trinidad with cadaver dogs.
Hunters, hikers and concerned citizens joined the search three days ago.
It will now have to be determined how Bharatt killed.
She went missing last Friday.
Bharatt’s father, Randolph Bharatt, and her aunt Wendy Williams were escorted to the scene by police officers at around 3.10pm.
Minutes before, the Express had contacted Williams who was inconsolable.
Williams had made an emotional appeal for her niece to be returned safely to her family.
A relative said, “Wendy cannot speak right now. She is devastated. We got a call from someone a few minutes ago and she wants to go to the scene. We are taking her there now.”
Williams said she had been caring for Bharatt since her mother’s death eight years ago.
“She is not my niece. She is my child. I want my child to come home. I can’t go another night without her. She is my baby,” she wailed.
Fire officers were called in to assist the police in removing the body.
Bharatt, a University of the West Indies graduate was a clerk at the Arima Magistrates’ Court.
Last Friday, she got into a taxi at King Street, Arima, with a co-worker.
The taxi, a Nissan Versa, carried false “H” plates.
Bharatt and her friend were in the back seat. There was a man in the front passenger seat.
The friend dropped off shortly after at Cleaver Heights, Arima.
Bharatt never made it to her home at 110 Arima Old Road, Arima, where she lived with her father.
He called his daughter’s phone but a man answered saying she was not available.
The father pleaded to hear his child’s voice but the man responded, “This is about money. If you don’t pay the ransom I will cut off your daughter’s ears and send it to you.”
Rennie Gopeesingh, a hunter involved in the search, said he was thankful to all the hunters who came forward to assist in the search.
Gopeesingh, of Hard Grounds Get Soft Fabecook group, said he intends to form a group to assist families whose relatives are reported missing.
