Two missing women with one jinxed boyfriend

Jul 20, 2014 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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A female cop disappears after leaving work…
A teacher goes missing after a basketball game…

By Michael Jordan
He’s likeable…he drives a car…but his girlfriends seem to have this disturbing habit of vanishing into thin air.

By vanishing, I mean disappearing without bothering to pack a bag of clothing or makeup, and never to be seen or heard from again by colleagues, family or friends.
Patriena Nicholson and Nyozi Goodman both knew this man. They’ve both vanished within the past eleven months.
Patriena, 38, is a cop and Nyozi, 34, a teacher at one of the country’s most prestigious secondary schools.
But let’s start with Lance Corporal Patriena Nicholson.  She joined the Guyana Police Force at a young age. One colleague described her as a quiet individual who ‘liked to party’. Around 2006, she started a relationship with a taxi driver and the couple ‘lived home’ for about two years on the East Coast of Demerara.
Shellon described her older sister’s male acquaintance as a ‘cool and quiet’ individual. But in June 2008, Lance Corporal Patriena Nicholson’s boyfriend was arrested, charged and remanded for harbouring two gunmen who had a $60M bounty on their heads. He was also charged for armed robbery.
At the time, Patriena was stationed at the office of the then Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene. Following her boyfriend’s arrest, she was transferred (allegedly for security reasons) to the Police Mounted Branch.
During the period of his incarceration, Patriena moved to Lot 44 Austin Street, Campbellville, where Patriena’s sister, Shellon Nicholson, also lived. With her boyfriend still incarcerated, the policewoman struck up an acquaintance with another individual, who was a deportee.
It is alleged that sometime around June 2013, the now-released ex-boyfriend saw Patriena and her new boyfriend walking together. Patriena would later claim that the former boyfriend dragged her into his car. She filed a report at the Kitty Police Station, but reportedly only requested that the man be given a stern warning.
At around two o’clock in the afternoon on Friday August 9, 2013, Lance Corporal Patriena Nicholson, dressed in a brown blouse, blue jeans and black sandals, left her post at the Police Mounted Branch. It is claimed that she told her colleagues that she was going “to wash,” while others claim that she told them she was heading home to drop off a package. Then she disappeared.
It was the new boyfriend who first informed Patriena’s sister, Shellon, that her sibling appeared to be missing. The man even made a report at the Kitty Police Station.
Shellon Nicholson said that around the same time that her sister had left work on August 9, she (Shellon) had received a call from Patriena’s cell phone but when she answered no one responded. Patriena’s phone rang out when Shellon attempted to reach her an hour later. Subsequently, all calls have gone to voicemail.
Shellon Nicholson says that police arrested Patriena’s boyfriend, but were forced to release him after 72 hours. He was never rearrested. Investigators also took a statement from the missing policewoman’s new boyfriend, but he was never detained.
Shellon claims that her sister was also acquainted with a third man with whom she sometimes travelled to Suriname. She claimed that this individual has not been seen since her sister’s disappearance.
Shellon Nicholson says she is unsure which of these individuals knows about her sister’s fate.
“August ninth will make it one year (since Patriena’s disappearance)…all sorts of things are going through my mind.”
She doesn’t believe that police are doing enough to locate her sibling. Whenever she checks at the Kitty Police Station, ranks there reportedly ask her if she “has any leads.”
It almost certainly doesn’t give her any peace of mind to learn that another woman who was acquainted with her sister’s once-incarcerated boyfriend has now gone missing.

MISSING AFTER A BASKETBALL GAME
On Sunday, July 6, 2014, St. Stanislaus College teacher Nyozi Goodman took some of her students to the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, to participate in the Inter-Secondary School Basketball Championships.
After the game, Ms. Goodman reportedly told her students that she would be staying behind, as she expected someone to pick her up and take her home at William Street, Campbellville.
No one has seen her since.

Ms. Goodman’s brother, Nestor Thompson, says he learnt that his sister was missing after his mother called from Linden to say that people were trying to contact Nyozi by phone, but were getting no response.
Thompson then went to his sister’s home where he met her landlord. He then checked her room and noticed that all her belongings, except for her two mobile phones and her iPad, appeared to be intact. Indications, according to reports, are that Nyozi last used her mobile phone about 23:00h on the day of her disappearance.
The brother related that family members contacted all of the teacher’s friends who were known to the family. All said they had no clue about her whereabouts.
Initially, police had focused their investigation on a Guyana Defence Force rank who was said to be a frequent visitor to the missing teacher’s home. He was reportedly able to account for his movements on the day Nyozi Goodman disappeared.
Police then began to focus on a taxi driver who operated out of the Kitty area. Police reportedly learnt that the driver, described as “a friend in the making,” had taken Ms. Goodman to the National Gymnasium. Of particular interest to investigators is the fact that this driver is the same individual who was questioned about the still-missing Lance Corporal Patriena Nicholson.
Though he still clings to hope that his sister is alive and well, Nestor Thompson is adamant that “someone is responsible” for her disappearance.
Mr. Thompson says that his sister has been teaching at the St. Stanislaus College for about four years and has “not a single absent day at that school.”
Nyozi Goodman is five feet five inches tall and dark brown in complexion.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to contact her brother on telephone number 692-4526, or the nearest police station.
Meanwhile, the search for these two missing women continues. Hopefully, the discovery of one would lead to the location of the other.
If you have any information about this case, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown location, or reach us on telephone numbers 22-58458, 22-58465, 22-58473, or 22-58491.
You can also contact Michael Jordan on his email address [email protected]. You need not disclose your identity.

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