Jealousy blamed for child's murder - Dad's ex-lover accused of butchering four-year-old
Published:Thursday | May 30, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Adrian Frater, News Editor
Western Bureau: Rage believed to be spawned by jealousy is being blamed for Tuesday's murder of four-year-old Natasha Brown of Duanvale in Trelawny, whose decapitated body was retrieved from a 10-foot deep sinkhole in the community yesterday.
A woman, who is said to be the ex-lover of the dead child's father, was taken into custody by the police after she reportedly confessed to the killing and subsequently led investigators to the sinkhole late Tuesday evening. However, the body was not retrieved until shortly after 10 a.m. yesterday.
"I simply can't believe it," said the Natasha's distraught father, Baldwin Brown, who admitted to ending a relationship with the accused killer five months ago.
"How could someone do something like this to a child?"
MOTHER DAZED
The child's mother, Marvalyn Graham, who was among the scores of residents who converged on the scene, appeared dazed and distant as she sat motionless in a police vehicle with a blank look on her face.
"She has been like this since the news broke Tuesday night that her daughter's body was in the sinkhole," one of Graham's cousins told The Gleaner. "I never believe something like this could happen in Duanvale - let alone to my family … . We are all in shock."
While he did not live at the same location with his daughter, the deceased's grieving father was very fond of her and said he was always of the view that she had a bright future.
"She was doing very well in school, and I just had a gut feeling that she was going to make me proud," the father said. "This was a special child, who was well loved … . I can't believe that a woman with four children of her own would do this to my child."
According to the report, as was customary, a relative took Natasha within a short distance of the Duanvale Basic School, which she attended, shortly after 8 o'clock Tuesday morning and left her to walk the remainder of the journey on her own. However, she never showed up at school.
DUMPED BODY
Later that morning, the accused killer was reportedly seen carrying a crocus bag towards the sinkhole. She reportedly told someone she was going to dump the remains of a dead animal.
When news began to circulate in the district that Natasha was missing, the resident related what she had seen the accused woman doing and the information was passed on to the police. When the accused woman, who was reportedly quite angry with the child's dad for ending their relationship, was located, she reportedly confessed to killing the child and led the police to the sinkhole.
With firefighters and the police having difficulty accessing the sinkhole as night approached on Tuesday, the search for the child's body was called off until yesterday morning. Shortly after 10 a.m. yesterday, a resident, identified as Marvin Gossette, was lowered into the sinkhole and he retrieved the body and the head, which was severed.
"It was really a simple task … . Once I got into the hole, I search around until I found the body, which was badly chopped up," said Gossette, who was lauded by residents for challenging the treacherous-looking sinkhole.
"I continued to search until I found the head."
When the remains were taken from the sinkhole, relatives were able to identify the child by her school uniform. The Falmouth police, who are carrying out an investigation, confirmed the accused killer was in custody.