8 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 3, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Three years later, Hollis mom seeks justice for slain daughter
BY TODD MAISEL
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
For most New Yorkers, Th anksgiving
is about gathering around the family
dinner table for fun and good food.
But for Hollis’ Andrea Cali-Gibbon,
Th anksgiving is a never-ending nightmare.
Th ree years ago, her daughter, Desiree
Gibbon, 26, disappeared while on vacation
in Jamaica. Desiree’s body was
found on Th anksgiving Day 2017 in the
heavy brush adjoining an overgrown
local roadway in Montego Bay, her
throat slit ear to ear.
Th ree years later, her killer has yet to
be found.
Th e murder of the aspiring model
was never solved, leaving her mother
with many questions and no answers.
In that time, DNA analysis, forensic evidence
and video surveillance from nearby
homes revealed few clues toward an
arrest.
“She wanted to be there,” the mother
said. “She was Jamaican. She had
been there many times. Maybe seven
or eight times …
with her siblings,
and many of her
friends.”
Desiree arrived
in Jamaica on
Oct. 20 and
planned to return
home four days
aft er her body was
found. Known as
Desi to family and
friends, she was staying
at her grandmother’s
hotel, considered off
the beaten path and away
from “touristy areas.”
“She was an adventurous
girl — she traveled the
world,” said Cali-Gibbon.
“She wanted to learn about
every religion, every culture.”
Cali-Gibbon continues
to fi ght for information on
her daughter’s murder, with
no leads forthcoming from
local detectives. When she
appealed to the U.S. Embassy
in Jamaica, staff members told her they
don’t investigate murder cases in other
countries unless requested by that foreign
police agency.
“I last spoke to her three years ago and
it is an unsolved murder,” Cali-Gibbon
said. “We still have no answers and we
are pleading to the American people,
U.S. Embassy, for any help we can possibly
get. Police went to the hotel in
Montego Bay and they returned a fl ipfl
op that she was wearing that day as
evidence.”
Her mother talked about Desiree’s life;
being born half-Black and half-white,
Desiree was comfortable in every walk
of life, she said.
“She fought against racism one of
big things in life to fi ght for,” she
said. “I’m sending an email to the
prime minister of Jamaica, begging
for his help to identify
those responsible for Desiree’s
murder. I’m trying to write
a law that would assist any
American citizen’s family
who has someone who is
killed abroad.”
“I know there are people
in Montego Bay that
know what happened to
Desiree — I just ask that
you please speak up,”
she sighed.
Photo by
Debbie
Egan-Chin
Photo by Debbie Egan-Chin
Andrea Gibbon at home with the necklace and cremains of her late daughter, Desiree Hyacinth
Gibbon, on Nov. 23, 2020, the three-year-anniversary of Desiree’s unsolved murder.
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