Sixteen clear days after popular hip-life musician Castro was reported to have drowned in the Volta River while cruising a jet ski with a female friend, his family and close friends still insist the musician would return alive and that he is only “missing but not dead”

This position has raised doubts that the musician really fell into the river and got missing on July 6 as reported and suspicion is setting in that the whole saga was a publicity stunt gone overboard.

While a section of the public has concluded that the search for Castro and his friend Jane Bandu, is now a wild goose chase that should be called off, his friends, family and the Ghana Police Service insist there is still hope of finding the missing two.

The question now is; if Castro is found alive, would he be treated as a ‘rescued victim’ or a ‘crime suspect’ who faked a tragedy that got an entire nation panicking and in grief.

Black Stars Captain Asamoah Gyan has issued a press statement to explain that Castro was one of the several friends who followed him on holidays to Ada when the incident happened.

He was however cautious not to declare Castro dead and rather insisted the musician was only “missing”.

“On Sunday 6 July 2014, we were on holiday in the company of friends and a few acquaintances on the banks of the Volta River, shutting between Peace Holiday Resort and Aqua Safari Resort at Ada, when we noticed that our close friend and popular musician Castro (known in private life as Theophilus Tagoe) had gone missing on the Volta River together with as acquaintance, Miss Jane Bandu, who had apparently hitched a ride with Castro on a jet ski rented by Castro.

“…The jet ski on which Castro and Miss Jane Bandu rode has been retrieved. However the two are yet to be found. We are keeping hope alive that the two will eventually be found,” Asamoah Gyan’s statement noted.

Days after this press release, persons who claim to have seen Castro alive on the shores of Togo, started calling into radio stations in Accra to spread the news.

This new twist was given a subtle but significant endorsement by the so-called “leakage” of a restricted police wireless message issued by from the Headquarters of the Ghana Police Service and directed to the Volta Regional Police Command stating categorically that Castro has been found alive but on admission at a hospital in Togo.

Though DSP Cephas Arthur Acting Director of the Police Public Affairs confirmed the message was authentic and not a forged one, his men say they could not locate the address of the said hospital when they got to Togo.

Impliedly, when the address of the hospital is located, they may find Castro there and alive.

While Ghanaians were digesting this new twist, another musician, Akoo Nana, who said he and Castro had been friends for close to 20 years, jumps into the already jiggered puzzle and stated categorically that Castro was not dead but would soon return alive to continue his music career.

According to Akoo Nana, Castro had been kidnapped but would soon be released by his kidnappers.

Akoo Nana did not go to the police to give this information as a clue to finding the missing musician but rather went on radio to prepare the minds of the listening public that Castro was about to return.

Castro’s Canadian based wife, just like his family in Ghana, have all kept mute about the development.

Days after the incident, Jane Bandu’s family relations were very vocal and almost desperate in their call on authorities to find their daughter. They have however suddenly gone silent over the matter as though, they have been given some reliable assurance that there is no cause for alarm.

If Castro and his female friend, Jane Bandu eventually emerge alive, it would take a genius of a team of prosecutors nail them with any charge that can stand the test of time because annoying as it may sound, the two have never reported they are missing nor have they faked their death.

People close to them and their spokes persons have also not stated categorically that the two fell into the river and are feared drowned.

They two may eventually walk away freely and continue to live their lives happily ever after.