SHARLENE RAMPERSAD
The killers responsible for the deaths of three people along the North Coast Road may have tried to use a dead dog to mask their heinous crime.
This was one theory put forth by the Hunters Search and Rescue Group yesterday, after group members found the body believed to be that of Alexsia Chantel Edwards.
Edwards, 21, her boyfriend Ako Matthews, 34, and their workman Robin Sancho were reported missing by Matthews’ relatives on Monday morning.
Matthews’ sister told police she last saw the trio alive on April 20, when they visited her home.
After trying to reach Matthews by phone, his sister and other relatives visited his home along the North Coast Road on Sunday morning. They met an empty, ransacked house and Matthews’ car, a silver Nissan B-14, parked a short distance away. The car was unlocked.
The group returned to the house on Monday around 2 pm. They later told police they smelt what they believed was a dead dog and checked the precipice behind the one-room shack.
About 120 feet behind the house, the relatives found the bodies of Matthews and Sancho. But Edwards was nowhere to be found.
When Guardian Media visited the scene yesterday morning, the door to the unpainted one-room shack was opened.
The house, perched on the edge of a steep precipice, is located about two minutes’ drive past the pillars on the North Coast Road. Scant furnishings, including a stove, a bed and a single sofa, could be seen inside. The bed had been flipped and there were large holes in the sofa, with most of the stuffing scattered around.
On Monday afternoon, the Hunters Search and Rescue Group was called in. The group’s commander, Shamshudeen Ayube, said they were mobilising to search overnight but torrential rainfall stopped the operation.
Ayube said his team arrived around 8 am yesterday to begin the search.
They too immediately smelt a decomposing animal.
“They could have killed the dog and thrown it over the side, so if someone comes along looking and they see it, they might think that was what was smelling like that,” Ayube explained.
However, he said his team was experienced enough to know the difference in smells between animal carcasses and human bodies.
Team member Dese Simon said they found a dog’s body quickly.
“From the time we arrived, we got the scent, which you can be confused with because we found a dead dog. We started looking to make sure, as we know two bodies had already been thrown behind the house,” Simon explained.
He said a shift in the wind allowed the team to pick up a much worse smell - a human body decomposing.
But Simon said the killers also tried to hide the body.
“The body was concealed, it was hidden, there were debris and different items that were on top of the body so you would not recognise it,” Simon said.
He said because the body was burnt, there were no flies around it. Simon said the team members had to lift up some debris to confirm they had found human remains.
“To be able to identify it, we would have to raise a couple of things because we can’t move anything at all, we have to make sure everything is intact for the DMO. We were just able to raise a couple of items to identify ribs, head, hands,” he said.
Several of Edwards’ relatives visited the scene but did not exit their vehicle.
One woman, who identified herself as Edwards’ sister, said police had ordered them to stay away from the scene. She said Edwards, who was from Trou Macaque, Laventille, had lived with Matthews at the house for the past four years.
She said six weeks ago, Edwards told her she and Matthews had been robbed while at home.
“I feel they came back to rob them and things went wrong,” the woman said.
The woman left quickly after learning that a body had been found earlier in the day.
Police had not yet identified a motive for the murders last evening.
