The Monica Reece Murder Mystery

Apr 19, 2009 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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Part II: What June Holland saw on Main Street

Like I said, the case had seemed to be just about wrapped up. Police had arrested a suspect and pulled in a pickup he sometimes drove.
The arrest was based on information that detectives had received from 22-year-old June Ann Holland, a Tiger Bay resident who had practically seen when the killer dumped Reece’s body from his vehicle.
As fate would have it, at around 22:05 hrs on Good Friday, April 9, 1993, Holland was walking along the Avenue of the Republic when she saw a dark-coloured 4×4 vehicle going north along Main Street.
One of the right doors was ajar and the foot of a passenger was protruding from the vehicle.
When the pickup reached the area near Geddes Grant Limited, Holland saw someone fall out of the vehicle.
Before the vehicle disappeared further up Main Street, June Ann Holland managed to observe these digits: 9 32.

She failed to discern one of the digits on the pickup licence plate. Holland then went to the scene where the passenger had ‘fallen’ and saw Reece’s body.
On April 13, 1993, four days after Reece’s murder, detectives, acting on Holland’s information, detained a 27-year-old man from a prominent family.
They also impounded a grey Toyota 4×4 pickup that was owned by the suspect’s father.
Investigators observed that the vehicle was a right-hand driven pickup. Reece had been dumped from a similar type of vehicle.
They also observed that the vehicle licence number was 9132. This was close to the partial number that Holland had observed.
The young man was taken to CID Headquarters, Eve Leary for questioning.
Denying knowledge of the crime, the youth told detectives that he had used his vehicle on Good Friday night and returned home at around 19:30 hrs, accompanied by his girlfriend.
According to the suspect, he did not leave home again that night until shortly after 22:00 hrs, when some friends of his went to his home and said that a woman was thrown from a vehicle and someone said that the vehicle registration was similar to his.

Accompanied by his friend, the young man stated that he then rode his motorcycle to the scene of the crime before again returning home. And he also denied ever knowing Monica Reece.
Investigators questioned several neighbours and security guards in the area where the young man lived, and they supported his alibi for Good Friday night.
Nevertheless, detectives examined the suspect’s vehicle and removed several strands of human hair that they found inside. These were handed over to Government Pathologist and forensic expert Dr. Leslie Mootoo.
Around the same time, detectives detained the 27-year-old son of a prominent Government official at Eve Leary while impounding his blue 4×4 pickup.

He denied using the vehicle on Good Friday, since, according to him, it had no gas. Using a friend’s motorcycle, the youth said that on that night, he visited an attorney who was his friend. He left at around 22:45 hrs and was riding around town before going home when he saw a crowd near Main Street.
He said he was told that a girl had died after being thrown from a pickup, while denying ever knowing Monica Reece.
On April 15, 1993, the son of a prominent businessman was detained and a pickup owned the family impounded.
His alibi was that he was at the Georgetown home of an attorney between 19:00 hrs and 22:00 hrs on the Good Friday night of Reece’s murder.
According to him, he visited his girlfriend in Kitty at around 22:30 hrs and returned home at around 23:30 hrs.
Detectives showed him a photograph of Monica Reece. He, too, said that he did not know her and had only learnt of her demise after reading the newspapers.
Detectives retrieved a hairbrush from the suspect’s pickup. The businessman’s son claimed that it belonged to his mother. She denied that the hairbrush was hers and it was examined for forensic evidence.
But the suspect’s girlfriend and the attorney who he had allegedly visited supported his alibi. He too, was released.

Detectives also questioned a man who drove a pickup for a prominent city store owner. The driver admitted to knowing Reece from her childhood in Linden. In fact, he said she had visited him at a Church Street disco on Good Friday night between 19:30 hrs and 20:30 hrs. She then accompanied him and another man to Bourda Market in his boss’ pickup.

They then returned to the Church Street disco and Reece then left heading west along Church Street.
Now, you must understand something. It was clear that whoever had killed Monica Reece was from a wealthy background. All had access to pickups, of which there were relatively few back in 1993.
The young men who were pulled in for questioning could not be treated like the ordinary, run-of-the mill suspects.

They could not be held in custody for days, or be subjected to ‘forceful’ interrogation.
I have been repeatedly told by detectives that the first young man they detained was never thoroughly interrogated.
According to police sources, while at CID Headquarters, the suspect became verbally abusive. He was kept in custody overnight, but was released the following day after his attorney filed habeas corpus proceedings in the High Court.

Detectives said they subsequently took a statement from a man who said that he had seen the young man and Monica Reece together. I also spoke to at least one individual who alleged that the same man was often seen in Reece’s company. However, detectives say that this lead was never followed up. The young man was never questioned again. In the opinion of most investigators, he is still the prime suspect in Monica Reece’s murder.
But why was she killed?

Next week: The motives, and what a former top police official believes happened that Good Friday night.

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