Bleak Christmas for father of slain UTech student

As Christmas approaches, a time once filled with family gatherings and celebration in his household, Everton Dilworth is bracing himself for two dates that now carry unbearable weight, Christmas Day and December 27, the birthday his daughter Anisa will never again celebrate.

The holiday season has reopened wounds for the family. December 27 would have marked Anisa's 21st birthday. Instead of planning celebrations, Dilworth says he is preparing for absence.

"Even this morning somebody come to me and say, 'Boy, where you gonna be? People sending flowers'," he told THE STAR. "Anisa pretty well known, and this time of year is really her year.

"I'm here holding on, managing my emotions and everything," Dilworth told THE STAR. "You still have life to live, things to do, work, family, not that I'm putting it behind me, but I just have to know how to manage the grief."

SKELETAL REMAINS

Anisa, a first-year pharmaceutical science student at the University of Technology, Jamaica, was reported missing in early May after her daily calls with her father went unanswered. Days later, her skeletal remains were discovered in Portmore, St Catherine.

Following weeks of investigations spanning multiple police divisions and forensic testing, a 29-year-old taxi operator has since been charged with her abduction and murder. He is scheduled to appear in court.

For Dilworth, the calendar itself has become a reminder of everything lost.

"She would have been home nagging me, wanting my credit card, making her preparations," he said jokingly. "About 14 or 15 years ago I told her, 'Hey, me stop make the preparations. Sort out yuh thing yuhself',".

This year, there were no birthday plans. Before Anisa went missing, both father and daughter were focused on a long-anticipated trip.

"We never got to have that discussion," he said. "She was planning to travel. The cruise in the summer was what she wanted to get out of the way first before she dealt with anything else."

HOLLOW FEELING

Christmas, once spent surrounded by family and friends, now feels hollow.

"It going to be lonely," Dilworth said. "We usually around family all the time. When I had to do the DNA, and all of that, to confirm it (Anisa's body) ... it break the family."

The loss has rippled beyond their immediate household. Dilworth revealed that one of his cousins, who shared an especially close bond with Anisa, has been gravely affected.

"During the time she went missing, he had a massive heart attack then a stroke," Dilworth said. "Now he's paralysed and bedridden. Him and Anisa did close."

The cousin suffered the heart attack before Anisa's body was found and has been in declining health since.

"It rough, man," Dilworth said quietly. "When him come Jamaica, it was him and Anisa all about the island, that cousin bond.

"Girl gone a university, everybody proud and thing, yuh know," he said. "She just never get to finish."

For the family, the unfinished journey remains one of the hardest realities to accept.

Months after discovering his daughter's remains, Dilworth says grief has not disappeared. It has simply changed shape.

"You don't get over it," he said. "You just learn how to carry it."