THE father of the teenager who was raped and killed in Trench Town, Kingston says his patience is running out.

Eight months after 14-year-old Yetanya Francis’s charred remains was found behind a church in the community the police are yet to make a breakthrough.

Lionel Francis told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that he’s trying to survive each day as they come.

“I am not hearing anything at all. Is there something I need to do?” I just have to think and be positive both for me and the children,” Francis continued.

Admitting that he doesn’t know what will happen with the investigations, he said his life has been nothing but tough since August 24, 2018.

Francis was returning home from work in Ocho Rios, St Ann on August 23, 2018 when he was greeted with the sad news about his daughter.

The father, who immediately began searching the community, told the Jamaica Observer then that the teenager had gone to purchase food in the community minutes after 8:00 pm when she went missing.

The Kingston Technical High School student’s body was found approximately 11:00 am the following day when residents stumbled upon it on West Road and summoned the police.

According to the autopsy report, Yetanya was killed by a stab wound to the chest.

The slain teenager’s family has since left the community out of fear for their safety.

However, the father who remains in the community said he’s allowing the police to do their investigation.

“I have to be the strength to ensure what needs to be done gets done. I don’t want to interfere with the investigation,” he said.

At the same time, he said the Yetanya’s death had taken a toll on her siblings.

While declining to go into details, he said he has been receiving frequent calls from his teen nephew’s and son’s school with regard to their behaviour. Insisting that he was not making any excuses for their behaviour, he said that was never the norm for them to be talking down to teachers.

Meanwhile, acting Senior Superintendent of Police Howard Chambers has again called on the residents to help them solve the case.

“We are still on it. Every week, every Monday morning that is a topic of discussion in our meeting. In fact, it is an agenda item we cannot finish the meeting without.”

“We still believe that this case is solvable and we still believe that we can solve the Yetanya case,” he said.

Last November, a man who fled the community and was picked up in Trelawny was detained, but like the others who were fingered as suspects, he too, was released.

In September 2018, the police confirmed that another man was detained in relation to the murder of the teenager following a shooting incident. The man, who was a neighbour of the teenage girl, was shot and injured during the incident. He was taken to Kingston Public Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries recently.