Who killed ‘Big L?’

Apr 17, 2016 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

By Michael Jordan
On the evening of Wednesday, August 4, 2010, Shumaine Archer heard a car stop in front of her aunt’s

Learia Bristol

Lot 285 Well Road, North Ruimveldt home shortly before 21:00 hrs. She surmised that this meant that her aunt, Learia Bristol, had returned from church. Aunt Learia seldom walked with her keys, and it would sometimes be left to Shumaine or one of the other occupants to open the door.
Then Shumaine heard something else…three explosive sounds that reminded her of firecrackers. She felt no panic. She assumed that the neighbourhood boys were playing in the street. After all it was the August holidays.
But then she heard a ‘tumbling’ in the upper flat, and her aunt’s boyfriend bolted down the stairs leading to the bottom flat where Shumaine was sitting.
“Is Learia!” he shouted. It took some time for Shumaine to finally unbolt the grills and unlock the front door and gate. And when she finally got outside, she understood what had made the explosive sounds.
Forty-two year-old Learia Bristol lay motionless on her bridge in a rapidly spreading pool of blood. She had been shot at close range behind the right ear. By the time relatives rushed her to the Georgetown Hospital, she was already dead.
Everything about Bristol’s murder suggested an execution-style killing, besides the fact that the killers had fled without taking any of the victim’s jewellery and other valuables. And in this case, there were suspects aplenty.
Bristol, known as ‘Big L’, was a successful businesswoman who owned Bristol’s Electronics and Vintage Variety Store in Robb Street. Relatives allege that the former property owner had sold the building to Bristol around 2000 after encountering financial problems.

A photo showing injuries Bristol sustained at the hands of one of the men suspected of killing her.

But it is alleged that a local bank somehow sold the same premises to another business entity. Bristol took the matter to the High Court, which ruled in her favour.
The other person in the dispute appealed. Bristol was allegedly gunned down a few days before the appeal was scheduled to be heard. But close relatives also pointed to two other men whom they believe had strong motives for wanting Learia Bristol dead.
While Bristol, from all reports, had been a shrewd businesswoman, her personal life, close friends say, was in disorder.
At the time of her death, Bristol was emerging from a long and abusive relationship with a man who she had met long before her then boyfriend. Persons in whom she confided said that she often wore heavy makeup to hide bruises that had been inflicted by her abuser’s fists. They said he even struck her in the face with a gun.
Aside from that, they alleged that the man had almost ruined Bristol’s thriving business when he was left briefly in charge.
Close relatives eventually persuaded Bristol to take pictures of her bruises and make reports about the abuse and threats at the East La Penitence, Ruimveldt and Brickdam police stations. Eventually, she reportedly got a court order restraining him from coming near her business place. Some relatives claim that the man had even told ‘Big L’ that she would never move into her new home in Well Road, North Ruimveldt.

Police search for spent shells at the scene.

“Three days before she died, she said she was no longer afraid of him because she could not live her life looking over her shoulder,” a relative said.
But some relatives feel that Learia Bristol had a premonition of impending tragedy.
According to those who were at church with her on the night of her execution, ‘Big L’ prayed the closing prayer.
“Everyone was surprised at the way she prayed, members opened their eyes to see if it was really her and joined in with her. She prayed like it was her last… and indeed it was.”
Among the persons questioned were Bristol’s boyfriend—who had taken her to hospital—and her ex-husband, who was overseas at the time of her execution. However, no one was ever implicated in her death.
But there’s a third man who some feel should have been questioned. That man is an individual who was well known to Learia Bristol. Some feel that he might have pulled the trigger, or somehow conspired with the abusive man with whom Bristol had once shared a relationship. The relatives claim that this man, and the one who had abused her, have both benefitted from her death.
“All we need is justice. Who killed her, only God and the killer or killers know.”

If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office. Our numbers are 22-58458, 22-58465, 22-58482 and 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: [email protected]