A boy in a bag, a headless man, and two Jane Does

May 04, 2014 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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– How do you solve a murder when you don’t even know who the victim is? 
 
By Michael Jordan

There are quite a few murder cases that stick in my head; some, because of the brutality of the crime, others because they are so bizarre. Four such cases come readily to mind. Two of them happened in South Ruimveldt. The third happened in Saffon Street, and the fourth at Vreed-en-Hoop.
Back in the late eighties, a South Ruimveldt resident was grazing his cows near Cane View Avenue, when he spotted something unusual in a nearby canal. It eventually dawned on the resident that he was gazing at the nude and decomposing body of a woman. He immediately called the police.
On examination, the victim appeared to be a woman of Amerindian ancestry. Because of the state of the corpse, pathologist Dr. Leslie Mootoo was unable to say how the victim had died.
Police waited for someone to come forward to identify the victim. No one ever did, and the woman was buried as an unknown.
About a week later, residents of Cane View Avenue got a second shock. There, in the same canal, was the decomposing corpse of another young woman. Like the first victim, she also appeared to be of Amerindian ancestry. Again, the pathologist was unable to say how she had met her death. Again, also, no one came forward to claim her remains.
Detectives were convinced that the two murders were connected. But with no information on the victims, they were stumped from the outset. One theory was that the women had traveled to the city from some remote hinterland community. The other theory was that someone was killing impressionable young women after luring them from night clubs and parties.
‘Back in the day’, South Ruimveldt was known for its ‘bubble sessions’. Maybe the women had been picked up there. Detectives began to stake out night clubs and brothels but this yielded nothing.
I had written an article on the two ‘Jane Does’  in 1996, and shortly after, someone called me at my home to say that they knew who the killer might be. Identifying the suspect by name, the caller said that the man was someone he worked with briefly. He claimed that the killer had a military background, and ran a business. He also pointed me to where the man lived.
I eventually met the caller. After speaking to him, I surmised that he was attempting to get back at the business personality because of a falling out they had.
Around 1997, city constables on duty at the La Penitence Market stumbled on a jute bag containing a mysterious object. The ‘object’ inside was a young boy of African ancestry. Someone had beaten him in the head, and had apparently tried to treat the injuries.
A drug addict who traversed the area claimed that a woman in a car had dumped the bag near one of the market stalls. If the ‘junkie’ was right, the people who killed that boy may have come from affluent backgrounds.
There was no form of identification on the lad, so I set out to find out who he might be. I walked all along Saffon Street. I checked in the Ruimveldt and other areas. I came up blank. He was never identified.
Years later, when a child from an orphanage was beaten to death, and the case went unsolved, I began to wonder if this unidentified boy, too, had suffered a similar fate and then been dumped into the streets. And if you think those cases are strange, just listen to what happened a few months ago.
Last march, someone spotted a man’s corpse near the abandoned section of the Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara wharf.
The victim was lying face down and was wearing a pair of three-quarter trousers and a white jersey. The fingers and feet were missing and so was the head.  Police eventually found the skull nearby.
A pathologist surmised that someone had used a sharp instrument to sever the victim’s head. Although investigators were unable to determine the slain man’s race, they estimated that he was in his late thirties or early forties.
What appeared to be a name was tattooed on the dead man’s right arm. While they were unable to ascertain his ancestry, police estimate that he was in his late thirties or early forties.
“What is puzzling is that the head was so badly damaged while the rest of the body was not,” a police source said. “A lot of things go on at the waterfront.”
That statement, and the faint tattoo, made me think of another tattooed man.
In late December 2013, the body of 39-year-old Rafeek Mohamed of Drysdale Street, Charlestown, was found at the Atlantic foreshore at Ruby Backdam, East Bank Essequibo. He had been shot in the face with a shotgun.
The name ‘Rebecca’ was tattooed on one of his arms. Although Mohamed’s reputed wife insisted that he was a clothes vendor, police believe that Mohamed was a member of a gang that was involved in robberies and burglaries. His murder remains unsolved.
Had the man at the Vreed-en-Hoop wharf died under similar circumstances?
Police took the corpse to the Ezekiel Funeral Home, in the hope that someone would identify the victim.
So far, no one has come forward to claim the body with the severed head.

If you have any information about these unusual cases, please contact us by phone or at our Lot 34 Saffon Street location.
We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58465, 22-58491, and 22-58473. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected].

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