A Belizean family is desperately seeking public assistance to locate 52-year-old Monica Evelyn Neal, who disappeared more than 48 hours ago after setting out for a planned day trip to the popular coastal destination Goff Caye. Neal’s daughter, Lea James, has launched a public appeal for any information that can help trace her mother’s whereabouts, saying the prolonged silence from the missing woman is completely out of character.
James told reporters she last spoke to her mother at approximately 8:19 a.m. on the day of the planned trip. As of Monday, more than two full days had passed without any confirmed sightings of Neal since she departed for the coastal excursion, and the family has been unable to confirm whether she is still at sea, stranded on one of the area’s many small islands, or has safely reached Belize City.
“This isn’t like her. I have never gone 48 hours without speaking to my mom,” James emphasized in an interview. There has been some confusion around Neal’s original itinerary: she initially told her daughter the trip would only last one day, but other extended family members later told James Neal may have adjusted her plans to spend several days at sea before returning to the mainland.
Already, family members have coordinated independent search efforts across Goff Caye, Caye Chapel, and dozens of smaller uninhabited cayes scattered across the coastal region, but those searches have turned up no clues to Neal’s location. With no new leads, James is now expanding the search scope, saying investigators and volunteers are beginning to consider the possibility that Neal may have traveled further north than planned, possibly near the popular tourist hubs of Caye Caulker or San Pedro.
James is urging anyone who spends time on the water, works at coastal resorts, or has traveled to any of the cayes in recent days to check their records and memories for any sign of Neal. Anyone with even a small piece of information that could help the search is asked to contact James directly at 673-7679.