More than one year after her death, police are yet to determine exactly how Shannon Whyte met her demise.
On July 1, 2021, the body of the 29-year-old was found by her boyfriend submerged in a barrel of water at their Morvant home.
An autopsy said the mother of one died from a single gunshot wound to her head, but whether she was murdered or committed suicide could not be determined.
At her home at St Paul Street, East Dry River, Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday,her mother, Veronica Whyte, said she still does not know exactly what happened to her daughter.
“We couldn’t even self-view the body because of how the injury extend to her face, we could not have an open casket, that kind of stick in my mind up to now from that call, even passing by the Forensic,” she said.
Whyte claimed that in the last 12 months, police have not reached out to her with an update and her messages to the investigator have gone unanswered.
But in a response to Guardian Media, the T&T Police Service said officers of the Homicide Bureau were still looking into the matter.
“I need some closure that’s all, closure to know exactly what happened, way too long, there is no results nothing,” the mother said.
The mother said this leaves room for speculation, especially since she does not believe that her daughter would commit suicide.
She said, “That child love life too much, she like to party and she have her daughter. Shannon would not give up her daughter for nobody, she love that child to the max and to just leave and not put things in place for her daughter, nah.”
Whyte admitted her relationship with Shannon was strained over the years but they were working on repairing it.
“We were good, we were actually getting there and when that happened it was a shock because there was no sign that she would have done this,” she said.
She said Shannon even moved back home after she found out that she was in an abusive relationship.
“I said you don’t have to take that, come back home, you have somewhere to stay…so she would come and go come and go,” Whyte said.
But she did not know the extent of the abuse her daughter faced.
“At times, I does blame myself because at times I think I was too hard on her, probably why she turned to him instead of me…I wish I knew what she was going through, I would have been a lil more supportive of her,” she cried.
She is hoping the results of the investigation can be put to rest because although nothing can bring her daughter back, her loved ones can then replace the what-ifs with the happy memories of what was the life of Shannon Whyte.
