The murder of ‘Teacher Melissa’: Linden’s 10-year-mystery

Mar 26, 2017 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

At around eleven-thirty a.m. on Saturday, April 7, 2007, Tristan Grant, a student, went to the home

of a school teacher at 134 Hippani Oval in Retrieve, Linden, to show her a school assignment. The teacher was Tristan’s aunt; 25-year-old Melissa Anthony, who taught at Christianburg Primary.
The lad called for his aunt, and after getting no response, he entered the open front door and got the shock of his young life. A woman’s partly-concealed body lay on the floor near his aunt’s study, with the legs protruding from the doorway.
Trying to remain calm, he walked over to the study and received another shock. Lying on the floor, in a pool of blood, and clad only in a blue sweater, was his aunt, Melissa Anthony. Someone had slashed her throat and also clubbed her at the back of the head.
Despite her injuries, the teacher was still alive, though barely so.
Young Tristan bolted from his aunt’s home and headed for the Mackenzie Police Station. But by the time the police arrived, Mrs. Anthony had already succumbed. Scouring the crime scene, detectives found that while the front door was ajar, there was no sign of forced entry. Some persons surmised that she had left the door open because she was expecting her nephew.
Detectives found some of the slain woman’s clothing in her bedroom. They observed a trail of blood leading from the victim’s bedroom to the study. The bed-sheet was also bloodstained while the room was in disarray, indicating that a struggle had occurred there.
News of the quiet young teacher’s death shocked the neighbourhood.
Melissa Anthony had no known enemies. Both she and her husband, Shane—also a teacher—were staunch Jehovah’s Witnesses. They had been married for about four years. But about an hour after Melissa’s death, detectives turned up at Redwood Crescent, Linden, where Shane Anthony was holding classes, and invited him in for questioning.
Mr. Anthony told them that he had left home at around 10:30 hrs to teach lessons. He said that Melissa was alive when he left home. Despite his protestations of innocence, Mr. Anthony was kept in custody. Meanwhile, detectives from the city joined in the investigation.
A close male friend of Melissa’s told Kaieteur News that he had called her at around 11:00 hrs on the day she was slain. The friend sensed that something was amiss because of the way that Melissa had responded. This led her to believe that the killer was present when she made the call.
As the investigation continued, police were informed that two cousins had heard sounds of fighting coming from the couple’s home on the day of the murder. Melissa’s husband received further bad news when detectives informed him that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advised that he be charged with murder.
But then, like a crime novel, the case of the murdered teacher began to take a series of interesting turns…

WOMEN ATTACKED
The first thing that happened was when police questioned the cousins who had allegedly heard sounds of fighting while passing the couple’s house. One of the cousins denied that he was in the location when the murder occurred.
Detectives promptly took both cousins into custody. They also released Melissa’s husband a few days before he was to be charged. Eventually, the two cousins were also released after detectives failed to connect them to the crime.
The second thing that happened was that a string of bizarre attacks on women began to occur in the bauxite community.
A few weeks after Melissa Anthony’s murder, 29-year-old Annette Persaud awoke in her Block 22, Wismar home, to find a man standing over her. She said that despite the darkness, she recognised him as a Wismar resident who was known for similar attacks on females.
When Persaud tried to push him away, the intruder stabbed her in the right thigh. He then pressed the knife to Persaud’s throat while warning her to be quiet.
Fortunately, a neighbour heard the woman’s screams and called out to her. This distracted the intruder who fled through the back door. She would later discover that the man had fled with her bicycle and a bag containing $15,000.
A few days later, Monique Dow, also of Wismar, was attacked, stabbed and robbed by a man who had sneaked into her home.
Some days later, 25-year-old Linden resident Nadira Sahadeo, called ‘Cindy’ was in her kitchen when a man entered and attacked her. The intruder took Sahadeo to her bedroom where he tried to strip off her clothing. She managed to slash the man to the face with his own knife, but the man also stabbed her three times before fleeing with a gold chain and ring.
Police later retrieved the suspect’s knife from Sahadeo’s yard. Persons who saw the fleeing man said he was tall, slim and of African ancestry. Annette Persaud also gave a similar description of her assailant and said that he wore dark clothing.
At first, suspicion fell on a young man with previous arrests for attacks on women from the area. He was questioned by detectives, but eventually released when it was established that he was ailing and apparently physically incapable of carrying out the attacks. In addition, the man was still in custody when one of the attacks occurred.
Eventually, some detectives began to look at the spate of assaults and began to see a pattern in them and the murder of teacher Melissa Anthony. For one thing, if Melissa’s husband is to be believed, his wife and all the other victims were attacked when their spouses were away. This coincidence suggested that someone was checking on their movements.
Then in late October 2008, police arrested and charged a 17-year-old boy from Wismar in connection with the two knife attacks on Annette Persaud and Monique Daw. He was subsequently remanded. According to some police sources, the suspect was also questioned about the murder of Melissa Anthony. He reportedly denied killing her.
”Some people still have him as a suspect, even though he did not do it,” a close female relative of Shane Anthony told me recently.
“They still have him accused for something he did not do. Jehovah knows (who the killer is) and He will reveal it in His own time.”
The relative pointed to the fact that there were similar attacks on women following Melissa’s murder. “The police need to do their work; they did not.”
Back then, some of Melissa Anthony’s close relatives had appeared convinced that someone other than the alleged Linden serial attacker killed her, and that the killer was someone whom she knew well. They say that some Lindeners know more than they are saying, but are reluctant to confide in the police. The relatives have urged them to do so.
If you have any information about this unusual case or any other, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office, or by telephone.

We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58452, 22-58458, 22-58465, or 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity. You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address mjdragon@hotmail.com.

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