House-to-house searches in Bellas Gate as cops hunt suspect in teacher's disappearance

A massive inter-parish security operation comprising 75 soldiers and police failed to locate missing schoolteacher Nattalie Dawkins or a fleeing suspect during a search of the Bellas Gate and Connors communities of St Catherine on Sunday.

The two-pronged operation was aimed at searching for the 44-year-old Dawkins, who went missing on Tuesday, and a target who evaded police dragnet on Saturday during an operation in the Bellfield district, St Catherine, in which his accomplice was shot and killed by the security forces.

Both men were seen in possession of the navy blue Toyota Wish motor car owned by Dawkins when the killed one of the suspects in an alleged shoot-out. The dead man is still unidentified.

Commander of Sunday's operation, Superintendent Steve Brown, said the target was spotted in the Bellas Gate area but ran on seeing the police.

"We gave chase but the person knowing the area better than the police was able to escape," he stated.

Brown, who is in charge of the St Catherine North Enhanced Security Measures Task Force, said the team carried out house-to-house operations in Bellas Gate, where the slain suspect and his accomplice have roots.

"Based on other intelligence, we came to the Connors area and did an extensive search of a wide area of land for the missing teacher," the superintendent said, adding that the police were optimistic about their leads.

Brown said the identity of the suspect killed on Saturday is still unknown, but intelligence links the two men crimes spanning both sides of the Clarendon-St Catherine border.

While the operation was in progress on Sunday, a white Nissan Tiida motor car with four men spun around and eluded the police in a high-speed chase in Bellas Gate.

Brown said the security forces travelled as far as Rock River, Clarendon, but were unable to intercept the Nissan Tiida. A search by police counterparts in Clarendon also came up empty.