POLICE DENY THAT BURN SURVIVOR WAS ABDUCTED

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is refuting reports circulating on social media claiming that burn victim Adrianna Laing had gone missing.

In a media release from the JCF’s Constabulary Communications Network (CCN), Superintendent Coleridge Minto, head of the St Elizabeth Police Division, confirmed that Adrianna was 

safe and currently under the care of an appointed guardian. 

“A coordinated support and intervention effort is ongoing and involves the police, the Child Protection and Family Services 

Agency (CPFSA), the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA), and the Jamaica Crisis Support Charity,” the release said. The release also asked the public to refrain from sharing unverified information and to direct any relevant query to the St Elizabeth division.

Before the response from CCN, Adrianna’s father, Adrian Laing, had sought the public's assistance in locating her after it was initially rumoured that she was mysteriously taken from her home in St Elizabeth by men wearing uniforms on Saturday. Laing told the news team that he had spent part of Saturday with his daughter before returning home to Westmoreland, while Adrianna went back to the home in St Elizabeth where she lives with his mother. Laing said he received a call from his mother later Saturday, alleging that Adrianna had been taken by men wearing uniforms. 

 Laing told the news team that his daughter was without her medication and pleaded with her alleged abductors to return her. He said he had called his daughter's cellular phone numerous times but without success. He also said that he went to the Black River Police Station but was yet to receive any meaningful information. The news team tried to contact Laing last night for further comment following the CCN release, but was unsuccessful.

In 2022, Adrianna’s family house in Springfield, Westmoreland, was gutted by fire which claimed the lives of her seven-year-old twin siblings Jayden and Jorden Laing. She has since done several surgeries at the Boston-based Shriners Children’s Hospital in the US.