Too ‘cold,’ too controversial to be solved?

May 16, 2016 News

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By Michael Jordan

My first real brush with murder came when I was 18, and someone raped and strangled a pretty, 14-year-old schoolgirl and basketball-player named Ann Stewart and dumped her in an alleyway near her home in Tucville.
That happened back in December 8, 1976.
Some of the suspects were youths that I knew; the prime suspect was someone that visited my home, with droves of other young men, to play table-tennis.
There are people in that community who are certain, even today, that he killed Ann Stewart. The detective who handled the case believes so, too. But Ann Stewart’s murder remains unsolved; a dark cloud in the memory that refuses to dissipate.
It is unlikely that detectives kept Ann’s clothing and undergarments, which could today possibly yield forensic evidence.  Unless there is a death-bed confession, this is the way it is likely to remain.
But with the Guyana Police Force now recording astonishing success in cracking ‘cold’ cases, the question arises: Can they go way back in their files and solve some of the very old murders? Can they also solve some of the not so old cases that happened during the ‘crime wave years?’
So here are a few of these cases, and the challenges that detectives may face in solving them.

Dolly Baksh
On Monday, September 17, 1979, 19-year-old Dolly Amana Baksh, a popular dancer, left the family’s Campbell Avenue home just past midday, after informing her mother that she was going to meet a friend to borrow a few books. Dolly apparently had a rendezvous with a male friend; 23-year-old Tejpaul Singh, a mechanical engineering student at the Government Technical Institute (GTI). The two were reportedly seen walking along the seawall near Bel Air. Around four o’clock that afternoon, the police and ambulance service received almost simultaneous calls that two injured persons were lying on the Kitty foreshore.
When the ambulance service staffers arrived, they found a young woman of East Indian ancestry in a semi-conscious condition lying in a clump of bushes. Nearby lay a young man who was also of East Indian ancestry. The medics established that he was already dead.
Both victims were fully clothed, but someone had struck them with terrible force on their heads.
The murder weapon appeared to be a heavy length of greenheart wood, which was found near the dead man.
It was soon established that the victims were Dolly Baksh and Tejpaul Singh.
The badly injured dancer was rushed to the Georgetown Hospital but she died shortly after. Autopsies would reveal that both victims had suffered fractured skulls.

Detectives, led by Crime Chief Cecil ‘Skip’ Roberts ruled out robbery as a motive. Rape also did not appear to be a motive.
According to reports back then, police were investigating a spate of brutal, unsolved attacks on lovers on the seawall. Prior to the double murder, a young rank from the Guyana People’s Militia (GPM) was killed under similar circumstances. Around the same time, a young woman was beaten and left unconscious in the same area where the GPM rank had been slain. Luckily, passersby spotted the woman lying on the foreshore and saved her from being drowned by the incoming tide.
Crime Chief Cecil Roberts believed that Dolly Baksh and Tejpaul Singh had been bludgeoned by the same apparently deranged man who seemed to be targeting couples who ventured on the seawall. According to the sleuth, it was “quite clear” that other lovers had suffered similar attacks but had not reported to the police.
The Crime Chief also felt that some of the victims might even have come face to face with the killer and would possibly be able to identify him.
In an appeal to the public, he explained that this information from other victims was vital for police to identify the person or persons behind the double-murder. Meanwhile, detectives cautioned other lovers to stay away from such lonely spots.
The day after the double-murder, police announced that they had made an arrest. It is unclear who he was or why he was held. However, the man was eventually released. From newspaper clippings I sifted through, nothing more was heard about the ‘seawall stalker,’ or the case.

The Challenge: Many of the policemen who worked on this case are either deceased or have migrated, as has former Crime Chief Roberts. It is also unlikely that investigators could locate a file on this matter. Victims of the alleged ‘seawall stalker’ may also have died or migrated, or may be unwilling to now come forward.

MONICA REECE
In April, 1993, on Good Friday, the body of Monica Reece, a 19-year-old female security guard, was found lying on Main Street. Eyewitnesses would later tell investigators that Reece was dumped from a pickup.
Ace driver, Ray Rahaman, who was in the area at the time, said that he attempted to pursue the driver, who was heading north down the western carriageway of Main Street, but the driver managed to escape.
Police would later impound several pickups (there weren’t many at the time) and also questioned several individuals. Most of the young men who were questioned were from wealthy families. Reece’s body was even exhumed for DNA evidence, but the case remains unsolved. Some police ranks have claimed to know who the ‘high-society’ killer is.
The Challenge: Police will need eyewitnesses to identify the pickup and the individuals who were in it. Because the killer is almost certainly from a prominent family, eyewitnesses may be reluctant to come forward, as they were back then. The individual may also use his influence to thwart the investigation. And there’s reportedly no DNA evidence to link any suspect, or vehicle, to the victim.

Jessie Ann Forde
Back in late 1988 and during the early part of 1999, the bodies of a number of young women were found at various locations in the city and Greater Georgetown. One victim was 20-year-old Jessie Ann Forde, whose nude body was found on a dam near her North East La Penitence home on December 8, 1988. She had been strangled. Detectives established that Jessie had left home on Saturday, December 5, to attend a dance. She visited a girlfriend in South Ruimveldt, and the two later went to the party. Jessie then returned to her friend’s home, where she stayed until Sunday evening when she announced that she was returning home.

A young man who knew Jessie, told police that they both caught a ‘South bus’ that Sunday and Jessie came off at Mandela Avenue, at a junction which would have led her through North East La Penitence and to her home.
This report led police to suspect that she was attacked while walking through a desolate shortcut, know as ‘the dump’, about 100 yards from her home.
But another report surfaced, which suggested that Jessie had never headed home at all. According to persons who knew her, she had caught a bus after leaving her friend’s home, but had stopped near a popular South Ruimveldt disco.
Her father, Albert Forde has alleged that he received information that Jessie had indeed stopped at the night club.
He said he learnt that some people who frequented the disco were involved in a pornography ring, and also in the drug trade.
Forde says he learned from someone who knew the suspects, that the ring would entice young women into their homes, where the girls would then be forced to participate in various sexual acts which were video-taped.
Two years after Jessie’s death, Forde said that he was approached by a man who claimed he was a witness to the young woman’s murder at the base where the ring operated. According to Mr. Forde, the ‘eyewitness’ claimed that Jessie was killed after she refused to be videotaped in the nude. It was alleged that the killers left the corpse in a vehicle before eventually dumping it near the victim’s home.
But investigators concluded that the ‘eyewitness’ had fabricated the story.
The man’s story about the alleged pornographic ring was however investigated, but no evidence surfaced to indicate that the story was true. Several persons were questioned but no one was charged.
The Challenge: The detective who headed this investigation has retired and now lives overseas. The whereabouts of the ‘eyewitness’ is unknown, while a man that Mr. Forde had claimed was a suspect may be deceased. Also, DNA samples were not taken back then.

Ronald Waddell
On the night of January 30, 2006, journalist and talk show host Ronald Waddell had just entered his car outside his Subryanvlle home when gunmen with high-powered weapons riddled him. He was killed almost instantly.
Reports at the time indicated that the gunmen had arrived at the scene in a dark-coloured car, and were watching Waddell’s movements from the seawall. When Waddell stepped into his car, two gunmen ran across the road and discharged several bullets at the vehicle. They then ran back to their car and escaped east along the roadway.
Police had detained former murder accused Sean Hinds and two other men, but released them without charges.
In July, 2009, Selwyn Vaughn, who admitted to being a former member of Roger Khan’s “Phantom gang,” stated in a US court that convicted drug dealer Roger Khan had ordered Waddell’s execution.
Vaughn testified that he was tracking Waddell in a Burgundy AT 192 that night. He said he told Khan via cell phone that Waddell had left his residence and his car was idling on the roadway. Four members of Khan’s squad then allegedly arrived and shot the talk show host.
In a television interview last year, self-confessed death squad member Sean Hinds had admitted that he was hired to kill Waddell but claimed that other policemen did the job.
Hinds was detained but was again released without charges.
The challenge: Police will have to get alleged eyewitnesses, such as Vaughn to testify against the alleged plotters. Since some of the key players were said to be ex-cops, fear of reprisals may prevent individuals from testifying.

MARCYN KING
On the evening of March 10, 2008, 36-year-old mother of three, Marcyn King was heading to her family’s Republic Street, Newtown home when a gunman exited a car and shot her twice at close range.
King was the sister of notorious gunman Rondell ‘Fine man’ Rawlins, and her death is believed to have been in retaliation for the wave of brutal killings that were attributed to Rawlings and his gang.  Police never came even close to solving this case.
THE CHALLENGE: Motivating police to attempt to bring the killer to justice, particularly since the victim’s brother is believed to have targeted police ranks, among others, during the deadly crime spree.

Execution of a man of God
A most baffling execution happened on Sunday night, December 1, 2007. On that night, a gunman, with cap pulled down and face partially covered, walked into the Prophecy One Deliverance Ministry, located at Lot 45 Hadfield Street, Lodge.
Four members were in the building at the time. They included 41-year-old church leader, Pastor Ian Davd; his fiancée; his adopted daughter, Shondell Williams and Williams’ husband, Pastor Alwyn Williams.
After assaulting David and ordering the victims to lie on the floor, the intruder took $35,000 from Shondell Williams’ bag, and a gold bracelet she was wearing; $17,000 from her husband’s wallet and a substantial sum of cash that Pastor David was carrying.
But before leaving, he shot Pastor David in the head. David succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The Challenge: The individual who may have known the killer and his motive is dead.
Shondell Williams, Pastor David’s step-daughter, said that from his reaction prior to the shooting, she suspects that her stepfather had recognized the killer. Suspecting that jealousy might be a motive, police had questioned the former wife of the slain pastor, but never came close to making a breakthrough.

Luciana Bhagwandin    
On Sunday, January 10, 2010, residents of Harlem, West Coast Demerara, found a woman’s mutilated body.
The victim was 22-year-old Luciana Bhagwandin, a first-year trainee teacher at the Cyril Potter College of Education. Someone had stabbed her 16 times.
She resided with an aunt at Industry, East Coast Demerara.
Luciana’s close associates claim that she was in a relationship with a dark-complexioned individual of Indian ancestry. The man claimed that his first name was ‘Jerry’ and that he resided at Eccles, East Bank Demerara. He also claimed to be employed at an Embassy and that he was a senior security official with the state.
The trainee teacher had reportedly told friends that ‘Jerry’ had often threatened to kill her and her spouse. He had once reportedly placed a gun to her head.
On the day that she disappeared, she was reportedly in the vicinity of Ogle, when the occupants of a dark-coloured vehicle abducted her.
Police had questioned a taxi driver, but never located the individual known as ‘Jerry.’
The Challenge: Some friends of Luciana’s have indicated that they can identify ‘Jerry’. However, they appear to be reluctant to provide this information to the police. The killer may have left DNA traces via scratches on the victim, but it is unclear whether DNA samples were taken from the corpse.

Robbed and run over
On the evening of Friday, September 9, 2010, Sheema Mangar, a 21-year-old bank employee, was in the vicinity of Camp and Church Street, when a man exited a car and snatched her Blackberry phone. He then returned to the car, and the occupants of that car drove over Mangar, when she stood in front of the vehicle to demand that her phone be returned. She succumbed at a private hospital.
Police were hampered by the fact that staffers at the hospital had disposed of the dead woman’s garments. Mangar’s mother provided the investigators with another uniform, which they used in an attempt to match the fabric to what appeared to be similar fabric found under two impounded cars.
Samples from that uniform, and from the fabric found under one of the vehicles, as well as what appeared to be a spot of blood, were sent to a Barbados laboratory.
But none matched Mangar’s DNA or her clothing. A police official said that the hair sample was not sent because it had no root to enable a DNA sample to be taken.
The Challenge: Police were never given the licence number of the vehicle which ran over Mangar. They also have no forensic evidence to link any vehicle to the killing.

Alicia Foster mystery
Why would someone execute a young Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officer?
That’s a question that is still unanswered after almost eight years.
The victim was 26-year-old Alicia Foster. On the night of October 12, 2008, Foster was preparing to drive into the family’s yard at Lot 78 David Street, Kitty, when a tall, slim man who was wearing glasses walked over and ordered her out of the vehicle.
When she resisted he shot her in the face. The gunman then escaped with her vehicle.
Police were told that a few months prior to the murder, Foster was threatened while investigating an alleged violation by a business entity.
But this lead reportedly yielded no results.  following that lead. Police also arrested an individual who seemed to match the gunman’s description. However, the victim’s eleven-year-old sister, who was present when she was shot, failed to pick him out of the lineup.

Trevor Fung
On Valentine’s night, February 14, 2004, 18-year-old student Trevor and a female friend were walking in
the vicinity of Eping Avenue and Abary Street, when two men approached and ordered them to  hand over their valuables.
Fung began to struggle with one of the attackers, and one of the men stabbed him to the chest. He succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
No one other than Fung’s friend witnessed that attack. No one was ever arrested.

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