Linda Lottimore is tired. It has been almost five years since her son Delton Burchall drowned but she still isn't able to sleep properly.

"It's as if it just happened yesterday," she said. "I'm up at all hours and I know I'm not going to be able to rest properly until this is resolved."

The Royal Gazette understands that Police have closed the investigation, pending further information, into the death of the 22-year-old, who drowned off Robinson's Bay Park, on North Shore Road in Devonshire, on October 18, 1997.

The news comes after a Coroner ruled an open verdict at an inquest into the drowning last week.

Magistrate Edward King stopped short of calling the tragedy an accident, despite evidence from an American pathologist who said she believed it was.

From the moment she received the devastating news that her son, a father of two, would not be coming home, Ms Lottimore has been racked with suspicion over exactly what went on that night.

"There are so many unanswered questions," she said. "If it had been an accident then I would be prepared to accept it - but I know it wasn't."

At the inquest, Mr. King said he was not prepared to rule that Mr. Burchall's death was an accident because he had to rely on only one testimony for an account of what happened.

Ms Lottimore said she felt "like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders" upon hearing the verdict.

And she said: "Me and my family were so happy to hear that they were leaving the case open. At least, if anything comes to light, even years down the line, something can be done about it."

But she expressed frustration after hearing that Police have stopped actively investigating.

"As far as I am concerned they seem to have stopped because they can't find evidence. But they should be out there looking for it. They don't seem to care about what happened."

Ms Lottimore said she believes there is more evidence for the Police to find on the case.

"I've heard so much talk about it. I just wish that everyone who knows something would come forward and talk to the Police."

She suggested that Police offer a reward for people who supply them with any information about what happened.

"They seem like they're going to give up. But that just goes to show why there are so-many unsolved crimes on this Island. I don't think they should stop. This was somebody's life after all."

From her home, Ms Lottimore described how her son had left her on the evening of his death to go and pick up his son and take him to a soccer match.

"He just got his life straightened out. He was going to take his son out to a game. He didn't sound like he was going to spend any time down by the water."

The next thing she knew, Ms Lottimore had a knock on the door and the nightmare began.

"My life changed from that point on. It has affected me physically, it has affected me mentally. I haven't had one night's straight rest since it happened. All I want now is to get my life back on track."

She described her son, a former Whitney Institute pupil, as a quiet boy "who never answered back".

She added: "He wasn't some junkie, as the report in the paper last week made it seem. He had a two-year-old child and a baby on the way. He was so proud of himself.

"He was just a baby though and I've lost him forever. My nightmare started when my son died. I'm convinced now, more than ever, that there is more to it than the Police seem to think.

"I pray constantly that eventually I will find out what really happened that night. I'm going to stick with this until the end because I'm a fighter."