Latest update April 17th, 2025 9:50 AM
Fugitive wife-killers leave anger, sorrow
One left his wife lying in a house with her throat slashed. The other killed his spouse on a roadway as she
Charles Chapman
headed to work.
What these two killers have in common is that they are both at large and are both believed to have fled the jurisdiction.
On January 17, 2012, Rushelle Rodney, 33, was discovered lying in a pool of blood, in the kitchen of her Blankenburg Executive Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara house.
Rodney’s throat was slit and her body bore multiple stab wounds.
Her murder was said to have been witnessed by a six-year-old boy, whom the suspect, the victim’s 34-year-old husband, Shawn Rodney, abducted afterwards.
The boy claimed that he was watching television when he heard Rodney and her husband arguing bitterly. According to the lad, Rushelle had apparently locked her husband out of the house but he somehow managed to gain entry and immediately set about viciously attacking the woman. The alleged killer fled with the child. The boy was released after Shawn Rodney was safely in a boat heading for Suriname.
Reports suggest that he is living in French Guiana, where he had previously worked. Guyana has no extradition treaty with the French territory.
Rushelle Rodney and Shawn Rodney
The alleged killer is believed to have acted in a fit of jealousy.
Yvette Mc Donald, the slain woman’s mother said that after the suspect was laid off from his job as a seaman, Rushelle went to work with her mother, Yvette Mc Donald, who has a business in the interior.
She said that someone spread a rumour that her daughter was having an affair.
The victim is survived by two children, aged 17 and 15, who are still traumatized by their mother’s death.
DEATH WAITS AROUND A CORNER
When Savitri Arjune headed east along Rum Shop Street, Herstelling, East Bank Demerara on January 27, 2008, she had no clue that death was literally waiting round the corner.
Just as Savitri neared the end of Rum Shop Street, a slim, fair-complexioned, middle-aged man emerged from behind a parked bus. Before the terrified woman could flee, the man grabbed her and plunged his knife repeatedly into her body. One of the wounds pierced her heart. Mortally wounded, Arjune collapsed on the dusty roadway.
Her killer then calmly boarded the parked minibus and drove to Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara, where he abandoned the vehicle.
The killer was 54-year-old Charles Chapman, called ‘Frenchie’. He was a former soldier and former seaman who drove a minibus. He was also the murdered woman’s reputed husband.
Savitri Arjune
Their eight-year-relationship had been a turbulent one. Arjune’s relatives claimed that ‘Frenchie’ was obsessive, physically abusive and repeatedly threatened to kill her. In fact, he had nearly carried out his threat just a week before when he slashed her with a knife. All reports indicated that Chapman regularly accused his spouse of being unfaithful and of squandering his money. Chapman had also threatened to kill Savitri’s close family members and torch their home.
Matters reportedly came to a head when Savitri announced that she was severing the relationship. That, and suspicions of infidelity triggered ‘Frenchie’s killing frenzy.
Kaieteur News had contacted the suspect on his mobile phone about an hour after the murder. The man who identified himself as ‘Frenchie’ readily admitted that he had killed Arjune.
‘Frenchie’ said that he had left his wife in Berbice to live with Arjune. But he said that when he encountered financial difficulties she jilted him.
He claimed that on that morning of January 27, 2008, he parked a minibus he was driving near Rum Shop Street, Herstelling, since he knew that Arjune would pass on her way to work. He stabbed her repeatedly until she collapsed. He then drove off in the mini-bus, which he later abandoned.
He is believed to have fled to Suriname. It is unclear if the Guyana police have ever tried to locate him.
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