Investigators have started retracing their steps in an attempt to get closer to discovering those responsible for the disappearance of 11-year-old Ananda Dean.

Yesterday, the police were also still awaiting forensic evidence to confirm whether a decomposed body, found in Belvedere, St Andrew, late Sunday morning, is that of the missing child.

Ananda was reported missing by her aunt on September 17 after she failed to return home from school. A shoe, which was found at the scene in Belvedere, has been identified by relatives as Ananda's.

Four days after the gruesome discovery of the body, Ananda's parents were recalled for a more than two-hour-long interview with police from the St Andrew North Divison.

"We are in constant touch with them," acting Deputy Superintendent Altamont Campbell told The Gleaner. "This thing is still wide open, so we have to keep in contact with them, finding out whether or not there is anything they left out or forgot to tell us that could aid in the investigation."

Threats issued

Meanwhile, police said reports yesterday of threats being issued against students from the Pembroke Hall High School in St Andrew, in retaliation for Dean's disappearance proved to be unwarranted of alarm.

A senior officer in the St Andrew South Division confirmed that the school, which is in proximity to the street where Ananda's books were discovered just days after she was reported missing, was visited by police who spoke with the principal, did a preliminary assessment of the matter and found no substance to the threats.

Attempts to contact the school's principal for comment proved unsuccessful.