AFTER more than seven months of tests, Government pathologists are still unable to say whether or not they have found the body of missing Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier Travis Saunders.

A body of a man, which police suspect may have been that of the soldier, was found at the edge of a mud lake in Ewarton, St Catherine, in May this year. But despite acquiring both the private’s dental and health records from the JDF in June, the pathologists say two sets of tests done on the corpse have turned up inconclusive.

The inconclusive findings have made life even more hellish for his mother, Ann-Marie Saunders, who has come to accept that she will never see her son alive again. Her conviction is based on the fact that a belt and a brown Jansport knapsack her son usually carried were found beside the decomposing body.

But Major Richard Reese, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, told the Sunday Observer yesterday that pathologists have to be thorough in their examination, relying on scientific and not circumstantial evidence.

“Yes, she is grieving for her son for the last eight months, but think of it this way; if we were to make an error in identifying the remains of her loved one and she should bury him, and subsequently the body of her son is discovered elsewhere, then we would really be called to book for it,” Reese said.

“In her mind – based on circumstantial evidence – she has come to the opinion that this is her son… but we have not yet been able to confirm those remains,” Reese continued.

“There are many findings which are inconclusive – even in post-mortems. We have the samples, they are in storage and unless additional evidence or additional remains are discovered, then we are challenged in this matter,” Reese added.

Ann-Marie Saunders is not listening. She is convinced that the pathologists are all wrong. The grade one teacher at the Hydel Group of Schools in St Catherine told the Sunday Observer that her greatest fear is for the state to “throw away” her son’s remains, denying her an opportunity to give him a decent burial.

“They going to throw away Travis. They going to throw away my son that I carried for nine months,” said Saunders, breaking down in tears between sentences.

“I know that he is dead,” she sobbed. “I know that it is his body. What am I supposed to do now? How must I deal with it?”

The inconclusive findings will also hamper efforts by the police to investigate Saunders’ disappearance, according to Derrick Champagnie, crime officer for the St Catherine North Police Division.

Private Travis Saunders, 22 – who was stationed in Moneague, St Ann, but was transferred to Up Park Camp in Kingston for the visit of the King and Queen of Spain – has been missing since February 11, when his mother went to pick him up at his home in Kitson Town, St Catherine.

According to Saunders, she was informed by the mother of her son’s one-year-old child that he had already left with friends.