The man who fell off the earth

Aug 30, 2009 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

If you find this headline misleading, or if you think it’s sensational, then it probably is.
But this is exactly what seems to have happened to this 67-year-old man with the strange name that I’m writing about.
He hasn’t been spotted anywhere. His body hasn’t been found. He seems to have literally dropped off the face of the earth, and if you know differently just tell me.
The mystery of Kwame Rumel Jobronewet, also known as Romie Johnston, began on the morning of Friday, June 12, 2009, when the United States citizen arrived in Guyana to bury his mother, a well-known Buxton resident.

A Guyanese by birth, Jobronewet had lived some 46 years overseas, and had returned to Guyana some two years before this second visit.
On his arrival, Jobronewet first stopped at relatives in Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara. But the elderly man wanted to visit his mother’s former home at Company Road, Buxton, so his brother took him there by car. At the time, the house was occupied by Phyllis Browne, a cousin of the elderly American.
Phyllis Browne told me that Mr. Jobronewet arrived at around 10:00 hrs and took a bath shortly after.
According to Ms. Browne, she was in the yard tending to her dogs at around 15:00 hrs when Mr. Jobronewet came downstairs. He was toting three small bags.
She says she asked him where he was going, and he said that he was going to visit his uncle in Goedverwagting. But she claims that he also said something puzzling. If Ms. Browne is to be believed, Mr. Jobronewet also mentioned an area in the United States, which he said he would visit after going to Goedverwagting.
Mr. Jobronewet reportedly then left through the back gate, which led onto Middle Street, Buxton. Ms Browne says that was the last time she ever saw her cousin.
Meanwhile, at the Goedverwagting residence, relatives waited for Mr. Jobronewet to show. When he failed to turn up, they assumed that he was exhausted from his trip from the US and had opted to rest in Buxton.
It was only on Saturday, June 13, that they realized that he was neither in Buxton or Goedverwagting. Despite checks at hospitals and in various areas, they failed to locate the elderly man.
They contacted the U.S. Embassy here and informed officials that Mr. Jobronewet was missing.
Some relatives believed that the elderly man might have been suffering from some memory loss and had gotten lost. Some initial reports appeared to support this theory.
Several East Coast residents claimed that two boys had seen Mr. Jobronewet in Beterverwagting. Realizing that he was lost, they had reportedly directed him to the East Coast Demerara public road so he could catch a bus to Buxton.
As days passed, relatives also received reports that the American was seen in a Timehri-bound minibus and that he “was wet and looked mad.”
They were also told that he was seen near Lusignan. Relatives were also told that a man fitting his description was seen at a funeral service at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Brickdam. Some of his relatives assumed that because of his memory loss, Jobronewet believed that he was attending his mother’s funeral.
But there was also a disturbing report which suggested that Kwame Jobronewet had never left Buxton.
A Buxton shopkeeper revealed that on the night of June 12, 2009, a man fitting Jabronewet’s description, and speaking with an American accent, had visited his shop on Company Road.
According to the shopkeeper, the man had a ‘speedy’ look and appeared to be restless.
The shopkeeper told me that the elderly man had tried to buy a drink with US coins.
But the shopkeeper says he told the stranger that the coins had no value in Guyana and the man had left.
Now suspecting foul play, detectives on the East Coast of Demerara took the shopkeeper into custody. They also detained Jobronewet’s cousin, Phyllis Browne.
However, they were released the following day, with the detectives getting no new leads on the missing man’s whereabouts.
Then on June 23, it appeared that the search for Kwame Jobronewet was over, when a man’s bloated and decomposed body was found in a bushy area behind the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. However, the victim was eventually identified as a suspect in a number of armed robberies.
Hopes of finding Kwame Jobronewet surfaced again in early July, after an emaciated, elderly man, who was barely alive, was found at a dam at the back of Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara.
But then the man was identified as 84-year-old Albert Van Vieldt, of Supply, East Bank Demerara. He passed away the following day.
A few weeks later, Jobronewet’s relatives received a call from someone who claimed to have knowledge of his whereabouts.
According to the relatives, the caller claimed that Jobronewet had contracted malaria. The caller also demanded $1.6M from the relatives.
The caller never contacted them again.
Since then, there have been reports which strongly suggest that Kwame Jobronewet was the victim of foul play. One report indicated that he was seen at an East Coast Demerara residence. At one point, police scoured a remote section of Buxton for possible signs of a shallow grave containing the missing man’s remains. They found none.
One of the missing man’s relatives, in particular, believes that Mr. Jobronewet was abducted shortly after his East Coast Demerara visit. It is believed that he was carrying a substantial sum of currency to assist with his mother’s burial, although relatives had already made their arrangements before he arrived.
Dismissing suggestions that Jobronewet may be suffering from the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, the relative said he corresponded regularly with the elderly man who always appeared to be mentally alert.
They have indicated they will reward anyone who can assist them in finding him.
“We want to bring some closure… you have this hope every day. Sometimes the phone rings and you have this hope that this is the call,” one relative said.
Kwame Jobronewet was reportedly last seen wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, a pair of black shoes and a white Kangol cap.
He was also carrying three bags, including a red one marked ‘California.’
Persons with information on Mr. Johnston’s whereabouts can contact his relatives 222-2688, or contact the nearest police station.

If you have any information on this case, please contact us at out Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown location.
You can also call us on telephone numbers 22-58465, 22-58491, and 22-58458.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: mjdragon@hotmail.com.
You need not disclose your identity.

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