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Volume: 122 No. 229, October 22, 2025
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SEARCHING FOR PREGNANT MOM Fears grow for 7-month pregnant mother who vanished after going to visit man thought to be the father By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net A DESPERATE search is underway for a seven-month pregnant mother-of-two who vanished after leaving work early on Sunday to meet someone - and never returned home. Thirty-year-old Lauren Saunders’s abandoned jeep was later found off Coral Harbour Road with a flat tyre, her purse and shoes inside.
Her family fears the worst. Ms Saunders’ sister, Charmaine Edgecombe, said relatives believe she left to meet the man thought to be the father of her unborn child. He is believed to be married. “She said ‘Okay she’s going to keep the baby’. You know, she’s not a baby killer, so she kept the baby.” The family grew alarmed when Ms Saunders failed to show up for a function at Atlantis and could not be reached by phone. “I say
this ain’t like her, something wasn’t sitting right with me,” Ms Edgecombe said. They checked every hospital ward before filing a police report. Soon after, another sister retraced Ms Saunders’ usual route to work and made a chilling discovery. “They drive up and they saw the jeep next to the road, and then they call the police and they did a further investigation, but they didn’t actually say if they VANISHED- SEE PAGE FIVE
PREGNANT mother-of-two Lauren Saunders.
Time for parents to stop beating their children? By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor Rrolle@tribunemedia.net CORPORAL punishment leaves deep emotional scars on Bahamian youth, according to a new University of the Bahamas study linking childhood beatings to
higher anxiety, depression and poor self-control. The findings could reignite debate in a country where corporal punishment remains widely practised and often defended on biblical grounds, even as growing scientific evidence questions its value and long-term impact.
Researchers urged the government to promote non-violent discipline training for parents and teachers, expand public education on the psychological harms of physical punishment, and modernise legislation to reflect scientific consensus. The research, conducted by University of
The Bahamas professor William Fielding with coauthors from Dartmouth and the US Veterans Hospital System, was published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Bahamian Studies. Using standardised psychological measures, the team surveyed 454 UB
students, most of them women, with an average age of 21.5 years. Participants completed an anonymous online questionnaire assessing their childhood experiences and current mental-health status. The survey drew on internationally validated instruments, including the
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, tools widely used in psychological and neurological research. The study compared those who had experienced corporal punishment as children SPANKING - SEE PAGE FOUR
GB BUSINESSES CLAIM DECLINE COI helps homeless mom SINCE CELEBRATION KEY OPENED with two autistic kids By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net LOCAL business owners and tour operators claim they have experienced a sharp decline in visitors — as much as 90 percent for some — since the opening of Carnival’s new $600 million Celebration Key cruise port in East Grand Bahama.
The significant decline in foot traffic and bookings with local tour operators has left many struggling to stay afloat, prompting a series of meetings with tourism stakeholders and government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investment, and Aviation Chester Cooper. DECLINE - SEE PAGE TWO
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net A SINGLE mother who was forced to sleep in her car with her two autistic sons at Saunders Beach has been given temporary housing assistance by members of the Coalition of Independents (COI). Ameca Ford McKenzie, 47, said she was brought
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
to tears when COI leader Lincoln Bain and his team showed up on Monday night to help. The mother of two, who lost her husband to colon cancer earlier this year, said life has been a daily struggle since his death. “Being a mother, first of all, is great,” she said, “but the challenge is, like, how I HOMELESS - SEE PAGE THREE