Four-year-old Dequan Peters keeps asking the same question: Where is mommy?
But Dequan's family members are not sure what to tell him about his mother, Samira Watkins, 25, of Pensacola, who has been missing since last week.
Eight Pensacola police investigators are asking the same question as they try to figure out where Watkins is.
Watkins, who is two months pregnant, was last seen by her family about 9:30 p.m. Thursday when she left the home of her grandmother, Minnie Joseph, on DeSoto Street. She was going to see the father of her unborn child in the 3500 block Creighton Road.
"We are not sure exactly what has taken place right now," Pensacola Assistant Police Chief Chip Simmons said. "We have not ruled out foul play."
Investigators have talked to the father of Watkins' unborn child twice, Simmons said.
Simmons would not reveal what the father told investigators, including whether the man said he saw Watkins the night she disappeared.
Sylvia Watkins, 23, one of Samira's four siblings, reported her sister missing at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.
Samira was last seen driving her red 1997 Ford Taurus. The car's Florida tag number is B387FP.
Sylvia said she called her sister's cell phone all day Friday and there was no answer.
"I still call hoping that something changes," she said.
Sylvia Watkins said she also went by the apartment of the father of her sister's unborn child but no one answered the door.
"So we knocked on a neighbor's door, and she came to the door and said that he moved out earlier that morning, which was Friday morning," she said.
Samira didn't go to work Friday or Saturday, increasing her family's fears that something was wrong.
She is a manager at the McDonald's on Pine Forest Road. She has worked there since she was about 18-years-old.
"When her job called, that's what made me think something isn't right because she's not going to miss work," Sylvia said.
The family is holding on to hope that Samira will be found OK, said Shearle Bruster, 25, Samira's cousin.
Bruster said the family has been praying and leaning on one another for comfort.
"I have been nervous, sometimes depressed and wondering where she's at, if she's alive or not," Bruster said. "I wish they would hurry up and find her because the thought of her being alone in the dark out there, that is just a scary thought."
Sylvia Watkins said her sister had a lot she was looking forward to.
Samira was planning a birthday party for her son. Dequan turns 5 on Nov. 19.
Sylvia Watkins said she is not sure what to tell Dequan when he asks about his mother.
"I really can't explain to him, right now, where his mom is," she said.
She said her sister also was looking forward to a Nov. 25 trip out of town. The sisters, a cousin, a friend and a god sister planned to celebrate Thanksgiving in Jacksonville.
Samira is a student at Pensacola Junior College and is working to become a dental assistant. She is slated to graduate in May.
"She was happy about that," Sylvia said. "She was happy about moving on up in life."
http://www.pnj.com/article/20091103/NEWS01/911030308
Samira's Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/samiraww21