News Source Guyana Reports : One year after the tragic death of 11-year-old Adriana Younge, her mother is still searching for answers and demanding accountability, as the nation marks the anniversary of a case that gripped and divided the country.
Adriana went missing on April 23, 2025, while visiting the Double Day Hotel in Tuschen with her grandmother and other relatives. Her lifeless body was discovered the following day, floating in the hotel’s swimming pool — a pool that had been searched multiple times before her body was found. A post-mortem examination conducted by three international pathologists concluded that she died by drowning.
But her mother, Amecia Simon, is not satisfied. Speaking exclusively to News Source on the anniversary of her daughter’s death, Simon maintained that even if Adriana drowned, it was no accident — and that her daughter was not in the pool when she went missing.
“She wasn’t there. Because first off, a child went missing, a business still going on, there are persons in that pool up until 10pm, persons are in there partying, swimming, still having a good time. She was not just a little child, she was taller than me, so even if she was there, somebody would have jammed her, you would have seen her,” Simon said, questioning who had access to her daughter and who may have lured her away.
Simon also expressed frustration at the police response on the night of her daughter’s disappearance. “The police that came there, they didn’t come to help us, to look for a missing child. They came to protect a business going on, while a child was missing,” she said.
Earlier this month, the Guyana Police Force announced that the Director of Public Prosecutions has advised that a formal inquest be conducted into the cause of and circumstances surrounding Adriana’s death. Simon said that while her family has not yet been contacted by the State, she welcomes the development and looks forward to a thorough and transparent process.
“I have a little hope in it because I am grateful to Dr. Todd… I do hope that we get some closure, that we get persons who were involved, people get held accountable for what they did because it was not something like oh, she just drowned,” Simon said.
Adriana’s aunt, Amika Lewis, used the anniversary to call for broader reforms, particularly in how law enforcement handles missing children cases.
“We would like to see some form of reform as it relates to law enforcement in Guyana and as it relates to how missing children cases are being treated. There really needs to be legislative measures put in place where the police can understand when a child goes missing, it is not something that you take lightly, it is something that they act upon very swiftly,” Lewis said.
Adriana’s death sparked weeks of protests across the country, including the destruction of the Double Day Hotel and the home of its owner by fire. One year on, the unanswered questions remain, and her family’s cry for justice grows no quieter.
“Adriana deserves justice. She deserves justice. The worst has already happened but at this point she deserves justice. Her parents deserve justice, her siblings deserve justice,” Simon said.
