Mother decries cross-border breakdown in daughter’s murder investigation

The mother of Coretta Blair Sandy is expressing deep frustration over what she describes as diplomatic delays, poor inter-agency communication, and a lack of coordination between Guyanese and French authorities in the aftermath of her daughter’s killing.
Tricia Sandy, the mother of the 34-year-old woman whose body was found in French Guiana earlier this month, says the pursuit of justice has been stymied by procedural obstacles and what she describes as institutional indifference.

Coretta was found in French Guiana, days after she was reported missing. Her remains were discovered near the home in Cayenne where she had been staying with her husband, Terrence Glasgow. The woman reportedly travelled with Glasgow to French Guiana on May 29, expecting to return to Guyana within two days. But after all communication with her mother ceased on June 11, concerns escalated. Glasgow later returned to Guyana alone, telling Coretta’s family that she was killed in a shoot-out during an ambush in Suriname.
However, inconsistencies in his story, particularly his inability to specify the location of the alleged ambush, raised suspicions. Coretta’s family contacted the police, and Glasgow was detained in Guyana.
But the family is unclear if the police will secure the necessary permission to keep the suspect in custody beyond the lawful 72-hour detention period.
“They said it’s 72 hours and he has to be loosed,” Sandy recounted, referring to the detention of her daughter’s husband, who was initially arrested by Guyanese police. “I said, I’m begging you [to the station sergeant at the Cove and John Police Station] as a mother… Don’t loose him.”

According to Sandy, despite a statement being taken and her repeated follow-ups, investigators indicated they were bound by local law. “I know Guyana have laws which we should follow, but as I’m a mother, I’m grieving my child, my only child.”
Sandy said she took her concerns all the way to senior law enforcement officers. “I went to the Commander… I begged the commander… just give him a rearrest,” she recalled. “He said, remember the problem is not in Guyana, it didn’t happen here, it happened in French Guiana.”
What followed, she said, was a string of miscommunications and failed attempts to reach diplomatic representatives, since she claimed, the Guyana police attempted to correspond with the overseas authorities via WhatsApp.
She said she attempted to make direct contact with the French Consulate in Georgetown. “We were all around Georgetown looking for this place,” Sandy explained, detailing her trip across multiple locations in the city searching for the consulate’s office.
Eventually, she told Guyana Times that she received a call from the French Consulate.
Sandy said the official assured her he was now sending a report through the proper diplomatic channels, involving the Suriname Consulate. “He said he saw it in the papers and he sent it to Suriname… so that I could get a clarification.”
Still, the grieving mother expressed dismay at how a lack of formal protocol caused delays. “Oh God, this thing is devastating, it’s troubling me so much,” she said.
She noted that, although the French side was more responsive, the disjointed international coordination left her with little recourse. “He [the person she spoke to on the phone] told me… he and Guyana does not have no connection… he said go to the high court in your country and seek for a stay.”
Despite the obstacles, Sandy said she continues to get updates from French authorities and has received strong community support from across Suriname and French Guiana.
“I’m a Guyanese, I’m not Dutch, and those people support me 100 per cent… It’s morning, noon and night, I can’t even sleep, those people on my phone, keeping me updated.”
Sandy said she remains hopeful that the diplomatic path now being followed will allow for legal action to proceed.