The teen’s mother, who had initially reported her missing and said that her kidnappers had demanded $2M for her ransom, told this newspaper that two nights later, on the advice of the kidnappers, the family took the ransom money to an abandoned house in the backdam at Naamrick. They arrived at the place identified shortly after midnight.

She said that as they approached the building, the kidnappers who were on the look out, spotted them, and a seventeen-year-old whom they suspected to be linked to Amanda’s disappearance ran out to them, claiming that she had been kidnapped too, and needed help.

But little did the occupants of the house know that police ranks had surrounded the house. The woman said that when the police ‘closed in’ on them in the house, a male jumped through a back window and disappeared in the bushes. According to the woman, she was so happy at getting her daughter back without having to pay over the $2M, she did not proceed to take any action against the 17-year-old. That teen had earlier been a guest at the Rampersauds’ home, and was ‘fingered’ in the suspected kidnapping.

On the night of the girls’ disappearance, they both had dinner with the family then turned in to Amanda’s room, claiming that they were going to bed. After Sally and Naresh did not see them the following morning, they mounted a search and reported them missing.