October 3, 2005
Nassau, Bahamas Tribune
by RUPERT MISSICK Jr

AN AMERICAN woman who believes she may have lost her husband to the Bahamas' nefarious drug trade in the 1980s, has become part of an organisation she hopes will help alleviate the suffering of persons who also have lost loved ones, especially during the height of the drug war.

For the past 22 years, Donna Weaver has been on a quest to discover what happened to her husband Gary after he came to the Bahamas on December 2, 1983 to repair an aeroplane. She is now the new area director for the Bahamas at the Doe Network - International Centre for Unidentified and Missing Persons.

"I can't think of a better way for me to honour Gary's memory then to try to help others in a similar situation and make something positive out of what happened. It is my wish to give something back to a place and cause close to my heart," Mrs Weaver told The Tribune.

The Doe Network is a volunteer organisation devoted to helping law enforcement agencies all over the world solve cold cases related to unexplained disappearances and unidentified victims.

It is their mission to "give the nameless back their names and return the missing to their families".

"I believe it is possible that there are many Bahamian families that have suffered much like I have because of losing loved ones, especially during the bad days of the drug war," said Mrs Weaver.

Mrs Weaver said that she has learned how hard it is for good, hardworking police officers in the Bahamas and elsewhere to keep up with and work on older cases.

"There just isn't enough time and manpower for many departments to do so, as new cases and crime happen. Here in the United States many of the cold case missing and unidentified are no longer in the system of local agencies or never were, depending on the resources at the time," said Mrs Weaver.

The organisation cross checks the description of missing persons against cases in an organisation's cold case file for matches. Only the best possible matches are forwarded to the referring agency.

While it is not the policy of the agency to contact the families of the missing and unidentified, families are always welcome to contact them through their website www.doenetwork.org.