Monica Reece, other unsolved murders await establishment of Cold Case Unit

Mar 05, 2018 News

– Crime Chief Paul Williams

Crime Chief Paul Williams says the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is awaiting the establishment of a Cold Cases Unit to pursue investigations into several yet unsolved murders.
“We still have Monica Reece as a priority. We still have the matter of the young lady (Rainella Benfield) that was found in the cemetery in by Beterverwagting. We still have (Trevor) Rose’s matter, the designer who was shot. We still have his matter as priority. We are waiting for the establishment of our Cold Case Unit so that we can invoke that matter because that will require some special attention. It is not that we put it away”, Williams explained in an interview with the Department of Public Information(DPI).
Further, Williams reassured that like the death of Monica Reece there are several other cases being actively pursued.
“There are numerous matters that we have as priority so as soon as the Cold Case Unit is established, definitely, we will go with those matters and several others that are there, that have been awaiting that special attention for quite some time. Now it’s a matter of national concern and definitely it is not a matter we have discarded or have put away. It is a matter that we still have our eyes on because it is a part of our cases”

Crime Chief Paul Williams

Rainella Benfield

Monica Reece was killed and dumped in Main Street, on Good Friday almost 25 years ago while 33-year-old fashion designer Trevor Rose was fatally shot at the Eccles Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD) while travelling in a taxi with the mother of one of his children, Latoya Towler in 2014.
The body of 18-year-old Qualfon receptionist Rainella Benfield of Lot 99 Canterbury Walk, Beterverwagting was on the morning of December 11, 2017 found in a cemetery at Triumph, East Coast Demerara (ECD) with her face bashed in and the skin ripped from it.
Despite the arrests and questioning of several suspects in the named cases, they all remain unsolved.
The Force’s Major Crimes Unit, however, has managed to solve several cases, including the murder of Babita Sarjou, whose skeletal remains were dug up from a backyard several years after she disappeared.