Western Bureau:

The Rio Bueno police in Trelawny yesterday intensified its search for 20-year-old Special Olympian Alwayne Green, who went missing from his home in the community on March 6.

According to the police, the matter is being treated as urgent and so far one person has been taken into custody for questioning while another person has fled the island. However, the police are yet to determine whether Green is dead or alive or where he might be located.

Green, a footballer with a learning disability, represented Jamaica at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games which were held in Ireland.

His worried mother, Susan Bowers, revealed that each day that passes without any word from her son reminds her that he may be dead.

"Although I live in Hopewell, Hanover, I talked to my son every day," a saddened Bowers told The Gleaner. "We have a very close relationship as he is the only child that I have. I don't know where he is or what has happened to him and that makes me worry as the days go by."

No response to phone calls

She recalled that on March 6, she called her son but there was no response to the phone calls, something she described as "unusual". Bowers grew increasingly concerned after two days of not hearing from her son. She said she went to his home on March 9 to find Alwayne's house padlocked from the outside with lights still on inside. After this discovery, she filed a report with the police.

According to Bowers, residents in the community reportedly heard when someone called Alwayne out of his house on the night of March 6 and he left with the person in a blue Honda motor car. However, they did not see him return home.

Alwayne was a student of Duncan's All-Age School and moved on to Cedric Titus High School but, according to his mother, was enrolled in special education because of his learning disability.

He worked at Tank-Weld Metals in Rio Bueno.

sheena.gayle@gleanerjm.com