A large-scale coordinated search operation for two-year-old Angelo Tobias Plaza, who went missing from his Tobago home earlier this week, was forced to suspend water-based activities on Wednesday after rough ocean conditions and thick sargassum seaweed derailed diving efforts, with law enforcement vowing to continue exhaustive land searches to bring closure to the distraught family.
The disappearance unfolded on Monday evening, around 7:30 p.m., at the family’s residence on Goodwood Main Road, Goodwood. Twenty-two-year-old Kalifah Tobias, Angelo’s mother, and her husband Shannon Miller suddenly realized the toddler was nowhere to be found inside their home. The couple immediately conducted an immediate search of the surrounding neighborhood and checked in with local residents, but their frantic efforts to locate the young child turned up empty, prompting them to file a missing person report with police.
On Tuesday, during the first full day of searching, officers spotted what they believed to be the toddler’s body in the waters just off Goodwood Bay, but the shape slipped back beneath the surface before recovery teams could reach it. The discovery pushed law enforcement to expand the operation, bringing in support from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force and the Coast Guard to comb both the coastal waters and the inland community where the family lives.
Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police Mahalia Bacchus told reporters Wednesday that authorities remain committed to exhausting every possible lead to resolve the case. “We understand the profound pain the parents are enduring, not knowing where their child is after he was reported missing, and after Tuesday’s sighting of what appeared to be a body in the water,” Bacchus said. “After discussions with partner state agencies, we made the decision to extend our search efforts, particularly focusing more thoroughly on land areas.”
She noted that the property’s surrounding dense bushes and overgrown foliage have not yet been fully combed, adding that teams are working to rule out the possibility that the child’s body washed ashore and became trapped in inland vegetation. “Our goal is to find answers and bring some measure of closure to this devastating situation for the family,” she added.
Though dive teams were on standby Wednesday to recover the potential remains, choppy seas and heavy accumulations of sargassum seaweed created unsafe, unworkable conditions for underwater searchers. The thick seaweed severely limits underwater visibility, while rough wave action made diving too dangerous to continue, forcing authorities to call off the water search shortly before 3 p.m. All available trained personnel are already on site, and teams are doing everything within their power to move the investigation forward, Bacchus confirmed.
As part of the ongoing investigation, authorities have already questioned the toddler’s mother and stepfather, and the probe remains active. Bacchus also issued a public appeal for any information that could help advance the case, asking community members and anyone who saw the child in the hours before his disappearance to contact authorities. Tips can be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 211, or directly to police by calling 999, she said.
A local water activity organization has already stepped forward to offer additional support to the search effort. Ricardo Alfred, owner of a local jet ski rental business and president of the Tobago Water and Trails Association, announced Wednesday that his group is prepared to deploy their members and equipment to assist in the search. “Jet skis are far more maneuverable than larger search vessels, they can navigate shallow waters that standard boats can’t access, and they handle rough sea conditions much better too,” Alfred explained, noting the association has supported recovery operations in similar cases in the past.