NEWS: STILL SEARCHING FOR BABY ZARA
Mar 11th, 2010 by Bilal Ali
It’s been three weeks since 21-year-old Shamsiddin Abdur-Raheem allegedly abducted his daughter, 3-month-old Zara, from her maternal grandmother’s apartment in East Orange, New Jersey, and threw her over the Garden State Parkway bridge into the Raritan River.
On Monday, Abdur-Raheem pleaded not guilty to a murder charge which carries a possible sentence of 30 years to life in prison. Zara still hasn’t been found.
Her mother, Venetta Benjamin, is hoping and praying for her daughter’s safe return. And she also doesn’t believe her daughter is in the Raritan River.
Benjamin’s best friend and Zara’s godmother, Marie David, recently spoke exclusively to Concrete Loop and said both she and Venetta believe that if Zara were in the river, they would have found her by now, “but at this point we can only pray for answers.”
She also commented on the investigation and search for Zara:
“This issue is not being handled with the utmost importance by authorities. I believe that because she was an African-American child, this tragedy is not being taken seriously. Many things in this incident that my best friend is trying to cope with were not handled adequately from the very beginning: there was no AMBER alert issued for the missing child at the time she went missing around 4:30pm until four hours later. She was turned away when she tried to reach out for help the prior day because it was a holiday (President’s Day).”
A website has been created for Baby Zara, and it contains the latest articles and updates on the search. Marie, Venetta and her family are all in good faith that Zara will be returned home to her family and loved ones.
Zara was reportedly last wearing a pink and green Carter’s onesie and may have been wrapped in a blue sleeping bag. If anyone has seen or heard anything regarding the abduction of Baby Zara, please contact your local police or New Jersey State Police at (732) 264-4150.