Tuesday morning, October 4, started off as any regular day for Verona Ferguson. However, hours later, the news that no mother wanted to hear had become the reality– her daughter had committed suicide.
Dead is 17-year-old Dacia Reynolds, a cosmetology student of Old Road, Runaway Bay, St Ann.
Days after the gruesome discovery by a relative, the community of Old Road, along with family members are in a state of shock, despair and disbelief that Reynolds, who was described as a happy and loving girl, had taken her own life.
Reynolds’ mother, Verona Ferguson, is clueless as to the reason why the last of her four children has taken her own life.
“She (Dacia Reynolds) was very loving and always happy. When you see her, you always see a smile,” Ms Ferguson said, while adding that they both lived together at her house in Old Road, St Ann.
CANADA OPPORTUNITY
In an interview with The Times on Thursday, October 6, Ms Ferguson explained that she had left minutes after seven last Tuesday for work, in Salem in Runaway Bay at Piper’s Cove Resort. Everything was well with her daughter and when the girl called her mother at 11 a.m. that same day, Reynolds was even more excited.
“She had got an email from a cosmetology school in Canada and she was very excited about it, because she had been successful in getting through. My niece in Canada was helping her. She told me that she was going to come by my work place and email them back,” Ms Ferguson recollected.
Her daughter had graduated from the Ferncourt High School in June and had started to attend a cosmetology school in St Ann’s Bay, St Ann approximately two weeks prior to her death.
“She loved cosmetology and hairstyling and fashion,” Ms Ferguson added.
However, there is no explanation as to what changed in such a short time to cause the beautiful and talented Dacia Reynolds to end her life after such joy and happiness, hours before.
According to Ms Ferguson, it was around 1 p.m. that she got the phone call that her daughter has committed suicide. Her manager arranged for transportation to go home.
Reports from the Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) are that Reynolds was found at around 1:30 p.m. last Tuesday hanging by a piece of garden hose from a tree in her yard.
Ms Ferguson said that she had heard that it was a relative who had found her daughter.
Ms Ferguson explained that last Thursday afternoon was one of her better days as she had been finding it hard to cope.
“I have no idea why she did it. She was a really happy child. Both of us were here and she sleep in my bed during the hurricane time and we play and eat together… I really worked hard to give her everything that she wanted. I told her you tell me what you want, and as long as I can afford it, I will get it. I just don’t know. I really don’t know what to say,” Ms Ferguson added.
She said that she is being supported extensively by family members, friends and her boss through the difficult time she now faces.
“My sister calls me every day and people in the district come and look for me daily. In the nights, I go down my daughter in Runaway Bay to stay,” she explained.
She said that her daughter is missed by everyone in the community of Old Road as she got along well with everyone.
While some persons, especially on social media have suspected foul play, Ms Ferguson said she has heard talk, but she is not thinking about that.
In the meantime, the police say a post-mortem is to be conducted on Reynolds’ body to determine if any foul play was at hand with her death. For now, the matter is being investigated as an apparent case of suicide.
