Adrian Frater, News Editor

Senior crime scene investigator, Sergeant C.J. Clarke (left), carefully places the packaged skeletal remains that were found in Flint River, Hanover, into the back of a police service vehicle, yesterday. The remains are believed to be those of two children who went missing last July. - Photo by Adrian Frater

Western Bureau:

Two skeletal remains, believed to be those of two children who went missing seven months ago, were found in bushes off the Flint River main road in Hanover yesterday by a farmer, who was walking through the area.

The remains, which consisted of two skulls, leg and arm bones and rib bones, were found alongside two half-buried pairs of shoes, a handbag, a silver chain, a hairpiece, shirt, jeans shorts and a compact disc. They were found in an area covered with dried leaves and shrubs.

"If this is indeed human remains, it would appear that we have a homicide on our hands, as one of the skulls appeared to be bashed in," said a police investigator at the scene. "However, that is a matter for the pathologist to decide."

Valrie Heedham, of the nearby Bamboo district, is convinced that the remains are those of her 15-year-old niece Diedra Medley and her 12-year-old brother, Shaquile Medley,who both went missing on July 21, 2007, and have not been seen since.

"I recognise the silver chain, some of the clothes and the hairpiece," said a tearful Ms Heedham. "I really do believe it is them."

However, Michael Medley, the father of the missing children, who came home from Canada to search for them when he got the news that they were missing and has been looking for them since, is not yet willing to concede that the remains are those of his children.

"The size match those of Diedra and Shaquile but I can't say it is them, or I don't want to believe it is them," said Medley. "Right now I am confused and I really don't know what to think."

Left home

According to Heedham, who had custody of the children when they went missing, on the day in question, the two children left home with a total of $7,000 to buy presents for Shaquile, who was celebrating his birthday. They never returned.

Sergeant C.J. Clarke, who processed the scene and supervised the collection of the remains, said a doctor would be called in to confirm whether the bones are actually human remains, and then they will be taken to a morgue for storage.

"We have already alerted the pathologist so he will do all the scientific investigations," said Sergeant Clarke. "If it is indeed the two children it would be sad," he added.

More than seven hundred children went missing in Jamaica up to October of last year, of which 659 fell between the age of 11 and 19. According to the police, this age group represents the largest number of children who go missing each year.