Police are focusing on tele-communications links and recently discovered “materials” in the search for Kerran Baker, while DNA testing indicates stains found last week on the Pedro Castle ironshore are not blood.

Conceding that as of yesterday, day nine of the search for Ms Baker, “they still are not in a position to locate Kerran”.

“We still remain hopeful, but it is reasonable, as the days continue, that we hope for the best, but a lot of things could happen in the intervening period,” said Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden.

Seeking information on Ms Baker’s telephone use on the evening of 30 July, Mr Bodden said “the issues are sensitive and we have the obligation to use the information in a responsible manner. We are not in a position,” he said, “to detail police efforts.”

He said that the missing nurse was someone who would regularly use Blackberry Messenger.

Mr Bodden said that 25-year-old Kerran “was a heavy BBM user, and we would like to speak to anyone, within the Cayman islands or elsewhere, who exchanged BBMs with her,” outlining official contacts both in Ms Baker’s native Jamaica and internationally.

“It is important to speak to a person because we are talking about persons versus instruments,” Mr Bodden said. “A person can tell us ‘I was speaking to her and I know about her manner’.”

Searchers had still not recovered Ms Baker’s cell phone, he said, while 15 investigators were working full time combing through CCTV footage, forensic strategies and conducting interviews.

”We need the support of people who may have valuable information,” Chief Superintendent John Jones said. “One or two people have been a little bit reluctant to come forward.”

On Sunday, police found a series of documents in the Pedro Castle area, but Mr Bodden refused to be drawn on their significance.

“I am not even going to give an inkling as to what that is all about,” he said. “We have to draw a line in the sand as relates to the inquiry, so I am not going to commit to anything.”

Ms Baker disappeared from her Bodden Town home on the evening of 30 July, leaving few clues in her wake. While rumours abound, police have found only groceries and a handbag at her home, her car and car keys near Pedro Castle and CCTV footage of her 30 July entry into Fosters Food Fair near the airport.

Mr Bodden said that DNA analysis of stains, initially suspected to be blood, found on seaside rocks near to the area where Ms Baker’s white Honda Civic had been found, had tested negative.

“They did not have any blood content,” he said, “but this is not to say we will not continue the investigation, but we don’t know what happened.”

Further searches were not planned, he said. Ongoing strategy discussions were focused on lines of inquiry and allocation of resources. “We have a search coordinator and he plans how best to utilise resources both administratively and practically.”