Missing Navaeh Allen: what does the mother know?

Her words say a lot

At the time of writing 2 year old Navaeh Allen is missing from Baton Rouge. Her stepdad has been arrested by police. Her mother, Lanaya Cardwell gave this interview to local reporters

Perry Robinson, III @ThePRobReport

Here’s the missing girl’s mom Lanaya Cardwell. She says the last time she saw her baby was before she left from work. We’ll have more throughout the night and at 10. @WAFB

“I don’t know what could have happened, I don’t know what went wrong, I wish I coulda stayed at home from work I.. I don’t know I wish… I don’t know. That’s all I know.

This morning i woke up, me and Navaeh went to the store, I had to be at work for (pause) 8.15. I brung her to the corner store with me, I got her some snacks,, some apple juice. We came back home,  I finished getting ready for work. Navaeh, the little girl,  my little boy and her daddy brought me to work and that’s the last time I seen my baby. The last time I seen my baby was before I went to work when I got dropped off … and that’s all… when I went to work she had on her yellow dress with the pineapples on it and she should have still had on that dress.”

Let’s break it down

This is an extremely concerning statement. In around 150 words Lanaya shows no concern for her daughter’s wellbeing, only concern for the situation. She is at pains to show that she was at work, she mentions it six times. She also takes time to point out what a good mother she is, looking after her daughter’s basic needs.

I wish I coulda stayed home from work.

This is an odd choice of words. I’d expect to hear “i wish I hadn’t gone to work” or “i wish I hadn’t been at work” but “caulda stayed home”. This is a phrase you use when you have some foresight that going to work isn’t the right thing to do, such as when you’re ill or there’s bad weather forecast.

She should have still had on that dress

This is a red flag. It’s a phrase you would say only if you know she didn’t have it on, that for some reason it was taken off.

I don’t know what could have happened I don’t know when went wrong.

This is all in the past tense. This indicates she has knowledge of an event that she’s denying. If she was undergoing the trauma of her daughter being currently missing you’d expected her to talk about it in an ongoing way. “I don’t know what has happened”, ”I don’t know where she is”, “I don’t know where she could be”  would all be a less final way of stating things.

There’s more in here that concerns. The stumbles and contradictions in the first line around “I don’t know” and the repetition of “brung/brought” and the word “dropped” worry me.

Conclusion

Lanaya may or may not be guilty of a crime but her words indicate she knows more that she is letting on and is more concerned with establishing her whereabouts than with her daughters well-being.

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