For some, eleven years marks growth: milestones, marriages, birthdays, and celebrations, but for one family, it has meant heartbreak and unanswered questions.
Helen Bergendahl, the daughter of missing former COSTAATT lecturer Glenda Charles-Harris, is speaking out again, still hoping that, after more than a decade, someone can finally bring her family closure.
She shared some words she would say to her mother if given the chance today.
“I am sorry that I was not able to protect her, and that we maybe moved a little bit too slowly with her moving into another type of living situation where she would have been more safe.”
Mrs. Charles-Harris has been missing since July 2015.
Mrs. Bergendahl says while her mother never reported personal threats, she had expressed concerns.
“Or that maybe that she might need to leave the country and maybe move to one of her children abroad. That was more or less the conversation, but she didn’t show any signs of being personally threatened.”
Mrs. Charles-Harris’ car was found abandoned and burnt, signs that signalled that the outcome would unfortunately be a negative one.
“So when I left Sweden, I packed both clothes to mourn in as well as hopefully clothes to rejoice in. But I kind of understood that it would be more clothes to be mourning her with.”
She says even after the disappearance, her mother’s cellphone remained active, but the family’s pleas to have it traced went unanswered.
Still, Mrs. Bergendahl said the family never stopped searching.
Flyers were distributed, interviews conducted, and calls answered around the clock, all in the hope that someone, somewhere, knew something.
“My mother was the one that bound the whole family together. It’s when she’s not here anymore that we understand how important she was to all of us.”
Now, she is making a renewed appeal to the relevant authorities.
“I’m not asking for anything extra because everyone has lost someone and is also looking for answers. But I am hoping that if we do get more solid clues, that they might have the resources to help us to at least put whoever is behind it behind bars so my mother can have justice for what has happened to her.”
She is also urging anyone with information on her mother’s disappearance to come forward.