Cops intensify hunt for Tuschen killer after threats of second bloodbath

Dec 23, 2014 News

– take steps to protect fugitive’s spouse and sister

In the wake of threats of a second bloodbath by a man claiming to be Tuschen murder suspect, Jerome Franklin,

Fugitive Jerome Franklin

police yesterday intensified their hunt for the fugitive. They also took steps to protect his reputed wife and her sister.
As an added precaution, an official told Kaieteur News that police have notified their counterparts in neighbouring territories about the case and have also circulated photographs of the suspect.
On Sunday, a man who identified himself as Jerome Franklin contacted Kaieteur News by telephone and indicated that the killing would not stop until he had “dealt with” his reputed wife, Geeta Boodhoo, whose left hand he had severed, and her sister.
In the approximately 20-minute conversation, ‘Franklin’ confessed to slaughtering his reputed wife’s mother, Bibi Zalima Khan and his spouse’s alleged lover, Floyd Drakes.
Expressing not a shred of remorse, he also admitted to chopping his reputed wife.
But he vehemently denied killing his nine-year-old stepdaughter, Ashley Boodhoo. He claimed that it was his mother-in-law, Bibi Khan, who accidentally hacked the child to death while attempting to chop him.
However, police sources said that the nine-year-old sustained at least three cutlass wounds, which suggested a deliberate attack.
The caller claiming to be Franklin also expressed anger that police have detained his son as an accomplice in the three murders. Police appear to suspect that someone helped Franklin to murder the alleged lover, Floyd Drakes.
During the conversation, the man claiming to be Jerome Franklin claimed that the murderous attack occurred after he learnt that his wife had sneaked her lover into the house he once shared with her.

Survivor Geeta Boodhoo

The court granted Franklin’s wife a restraining order a few months ago after she claimed that he had threatened her life.
‘Franklin’ alleged that on Thursday night, a taxi driver, who is his close friend, tipped him off that he had dropped Franklin’s spouse and a man into Tuschen Housing Scheme.
‘Franklin’ said that he immediately contacted his mother-in-law, Bibi Khan, by phone. But according to him, Ms. Khan “sucked her teeth and hung up the phone,” after he told her to let Drakes leave the house.
The caller told Kaieteur News that he then forced his way into the house and attacked the occupants.
He claimed that Bibi Khan, his mother-in law, picked up a cutlass and tried to chop him, but accidentally chopped and killed nine-year-old Ashley Boodhoo. He also hacked his spouse but she managed to escape.
‘Franklin’ said that he then turned on Floyd Drakes, and killed him although the man pleaded to be spared. Police said that Drakes sustained at least 25 cutlass wounds.
His spouse told Kaieteur News that she hid in a neighbour’s verandah, with Franklin standing a few inches from her hiding place.
The mother of four of Franklin’s children said that she believes her reputed husband is in Suriname since he has more relatives over there than here. The 30-year-old waitress denied knowing Floyd Drakes, her alleged lover.
This is despite the fact that Drakes’s body was discovered by investigators in a clump of bushes at the back of Boodhoo’s house, near to an outhouse.