Burnt body in car trunk… Cops hand over body samples for DNA testing to Guyana Forensic Lab

Nov 08, 2019 News

– GRA records confirm car belongs to missing witness, Collin Rodney

The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) is in possession of samples that were taken from the burnt body found in a car trunk at Letter ‘T’, Mahaicony, two Fridays ago.

Missing: Collin Rodney

Police handed over the samples yesterday for DNA testing, even as they received further information that points to the victim being missing witness, Collin Rodney.
Crime Chief Michael Kingston told Kaieteur News that Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) records showed that the registration number on the vehicle’s chassis matched that of Rodney’s car.
Rodney was driving a Toyota Allion, licence number PRR 1076, when he disappeared.
Crime Chief Kingston has assured that investigators “are working assiduously” on the case.
GFSL Director, Delon France, has said that the laboratory is fully equipped to conduct the DNA tests to verify the victim’s identity. But to do this, they will also need samples from Collin Rodney’s parents, or other close relatives.
He disclosed that the lab should be able to provide the results within a week of conducting the tests.

The burnt car that was found with a body in the trunk at Letter ‘T’ Mahaicony

It costs Guyana over $1M to send a single DNA sample overseas, and local investigators often have to wait months for an analysis to be completed.
This is the second time that the GFSL has been tasked to conduct DNA tests in a murder investigation. A human bone fragment was previously sent to the lab.
The GFSL received deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) equipment last May. It was supplied by Italian firm Q&T S.P.A at a cost of approximately $107M (US$513,000).
The equipment has the capacity to allow eight samples to be tested at a time.
Following a post mortem on Tuesday, several samples were taken for analysis from the leg and thigh bones, and teeth of the victim.
Police said that the post mortem results on the badly burnt body were deemed inconclusive.
The torched car, with a badly burnt body in the trunk, was found in a desolate area at Letter ‘T’, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.The victim is suspected to be 36-year-old Collin Rodney, who, along with his silver-grey Toyota Allion, vanished on October 25.

James Fraser called ‘Dab’

Osafo Grundell called ‘Safo’

He was due to testify that very day in the murder of his cousin, Marlon Seon Rodney, called ‘George’, who was gunned down last April in Norton Street, Lodge.
Thirty-nine-year-old Osafo Grundell, called ‘Safo’ of Freeman Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown; and James Fraser, 21, called ‘Dab’ from Garnett Street, Georgetown, are charged with Marlon Rodney’s murder.
In the wake of Collin Rodney’s disappearance, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan said that the police will seek to place other witnesses in Government’s Witness Protection Programme.
Two detectives testified in the matter last Monday.

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