Missing woman told stranger she was 'starting on a journey'
By
Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 08:49 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 09:13 PM EST
On the night Taneesha Brown vanished in Markham, she told a stranger she was “starting on a journey,” then walked off into the frigid night without a coat, hat or gloves.
That was a week ago and the missing woman’s mom, who flew here from Thunder Bay to be with her three other grown children, is desperate for her daughter’s safe return.
“We’re all trying to be strong for one another, but every day it’s growing harder,” Kim Mazerolle said Tuesday, her eyes welling up with tears. “Every minute feels like an hour and every hour feels like a day.”
The distraught mom believes Taneesha is still alive.
“I’m very optimistic,” she said. “If we lose hope, what else do we have?”
Taneesha, 25, has struggled with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. Her father, Uriel Brown, told a press conference last week he encouraged his daughter to study Islam as an alternative to medication to treat her mental illness.
She began the new year living on her own for the first time in Scarborough.
But within a week, her family became concerned about her mental state and suggested she stay at her aunt’s home in Markham near McCowan Rd. and Castlemore Ave.
On Jan. 12, around 10:30 p.m., after telling her aunt she was stepping outside for some fresh air, Taneesha vanished.
York Regional Police found video of Taneesha walking through an empty parking lot at nearby Bur Oak Secondary School 15 minutes later.
She suddenly changes directions and heads toward a man. The two talk briefly, then go their separate ways as the man waves goodbye.
Investigators have since spoken to the man in the video.
“She approached him and asked how he was doing,” Const. Andy Pattenden said. “The man asked if she was alright, as she wasn’t dressed for the weather, and she said she was fine and that she was starting on a journey.”
Kevin Mazerolle, 30, the eldest of the four siblings, said he clings to the hope his sister is “somewhere safe and warm.”
“But seeing that video, seeing her walk around, to me she looked lost,” he said. “And saying she was on a journey, that scared me.”
He fought back tears at the thought of his sister’s thin white dashiki blowing in the wind and her bare hands exposed to the cold on a night when the mercury dipped to -13C.
Kim Mazerolle wants people to know her daughter is much more than a woman who threw herself into her religion to cope with mental illness.
“Taneesha is a very beautiful, loving, caring person with a big heart,” she said.
She also said Taneesha “loves life,” so she doesn’t believe her daughter would hurt herself.
She pleaded for GTA residents to keep an eye out for Taneesha and to notify police of any sightings.
The heartbroken mom also wants her daughter to know she’s not in trouble.
“We love you, we miss you and we want you back.”
chris.doucette@sunmedia.ca
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnmhcUAvhSs
Missing woman told stranger she was 'starting on a journey' | Toronto & GTA | Ne
Afghan woman's nose cut off by husband
The Associated Press and Postmedia Network
First posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 09:18 AM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 03:42 PM EST
A young woman in a remote northern region of Afghanistan had her nose cut off by her husband, who regularly beat her and who had recently taken a second wife -- a seven-year-old girl.
Fawzia Salimi, a hospital director in Maymana, capital of Faryab province, said 22-year-old Reza Gul was brought in early Monday having lost a great deal of blood. The man reportedly used a pocket knife.
Gul's husband, 25-year-old Mohammad Khan, has since fled their village. It's unknown if he took his child bride with him.
Salimi said Khan had returned from Iran three months ago, and since then had repeatedly beaten and tortured Gul.
Community elders and Taliban representatives in their village had tried mediating with the family to help sort out their problems, a traditional method of dealing with marital issues, Salimi said.
Now local security forces are searching for Khan, and so is the Taliban, which maintains control of the area.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the group's gunmen were "seriously searching the area." If and when Khan is found, "he will be dealt with according to Shariah law."
Before cutting off his wife's nose, Khan had promised Taliban leaders in the village that he would stop harming Gul.
Severing women's noses is not unheard of in Afghanistan, where domestic violence is rampant, and like most abuse probably happens more often than is publicly acknowledged.
The case of Aisha Mohammadzai shocked the world in 2010 when she appeared on the cover of Time magazine with her nose cut off.
Photos of Gul circulating on social media have sparked online anger.
Salimi said she is trying to arrange transport to a hospital that can provide further treatment, including plastic surgery.
Afghan woman's nose cut off by husband | World | News | Toronto Sun
