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Friends found dead in car at hotel’s parking lot
By Shervin Belgrave
Kaieteur News – A phone call on Friday evening led to the shocking discovery of the bodies of two friends in a Black Honda Vezel SUV with the windows halfway down in the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown.
The two friends who were found dead inside a car in the Marriott Hotel parking lot, Paishnarine Hansraj (left) and Justin Teixeira
They were identified as two well known individuals, Justin Teixeira, 34, and 25-year-old Paishnarine Hansraj, also known as Richie, a local singer of Hague Backdam, West Coast Demerara.
Police investigation so far, is suggesting that this might be a case of murder/suicide.
Police were first informed of the shocking discovery around 00:16hrs on Saturday morning. It was a hotel employee who found the men motionless in the car. Teixeira was a guest at the hotel and around 23:30hrs on Friday, his mother, a 60-year-old resident of Middle Road, La Penitence, Georgetown, called and requested that an employee “check up” on her son because he was reportedly having a seizure.
Police did not divulge who informed Teixeira’s mother about his condition but reported that a hotel staff was instructed to do as she had requested but when the individual got to his room on the sixth floor, he was not there.
The employee then decided to check on his SUV parked in the hotel’s parking lot and found him sitting motionless in the driver’s seat. The employee reportedly proceeded to open the passenger’s side of the vehicle and saw Hansraj in a crouched position. A 911 call was immediately made and police turned up shortly after with an ambulance. The medical personnel on board the ambulance pronounced them dead and police began their investigation.
According to police, it appears as if the men had consumed a deadly substance. They were seen frothing from the mouth and there were no marks of violence on their bodies. On the backseat of the vehicle, detectives found a plastic container containing a whitish hard substance. At first glance, detectives thought that it was some form of narcotics such as crack cocaine.
Law enforcement officials suspect that the white rock-like substance found inside the vehicle might be sodium cyanide
After removing their bodies from the scene, detectives sent the substance to the Guyana Forensic Laboratory for testing and while they awaited the results, some were speculating that they could have died from a drug overdose. That theory, however, quickly faded after the test results of the substance returned negative for narcotics. The lab officials told police that it could be sodium cyanide, a substance that is lethal in small quantities but they cannot be sure because the forensic lab does not have the capabilities to test for such toxic chemicals.
Detectives have since sent samples of the substance overseas for further testing.
Sodium cyanide is a highly toxic chemical compound that is mainly used in gold mining as a cheaper alternative to extract gold. In its solid form, it is white and odourless but highly soluble and very reactive to metals.
While police are waiting for the overseas tests to be completed, detectives are reviewing CCTV footage from the hotel to trace the men’s last movements for clues that might help them solve the case.
The two had been friends for years and are well known individuals who were very active on the various social media platforms. Some persons believe that their final Facebook posts could be a vital clue in the case.
Both friends made posts just hours before their bodies were found. The first was made by Teixeira around 16:13hrs on Friday and in that post, he stated with a smiling emoji at the end, “Life is like a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.”
For many, this seemed like a normal post with a motivational quote but hours later and just around 45 minutes before they were both discovered motionless in Teixeira’s car, Hansraj made a post that raised some eyebrows. At around 23:10hrs on Friday, Hansraj posted, “I hope the world find peace today. I love yall!”
If indeed the friends’ lives were taken by suicide or murder/suicide, what drove them to do it may remain a mystery. In the eyes of the public, they were great friends, living the best of their youthful lives.
Hansraj was a talented local singer who was very popular. He was reportedly planning to engage the love of his life on May 7, and had sent out invitations to all of his friends and had even told one of them to ensure that she was present for the celebrations.
Investigations are ongoing.
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