Distraught niece believes headless body belongs to missing aunt

Britney Graham’s worst fears were realised yesterday when she found the headless decomposing body of a woman, who she strongly believes is her aunt, Suzette Clarke, who went missing last Thursday.

“Me did in shock. Mi heart start race. Mi did a wonder if a she, but mi know har clothes. Mi know say a she,” Clarke’s grief-stricken 23-year-old niece, who she raised like a daughter since age two, told The Gleaner yesterday.

Clarke, a 52-year-old forklift operator of South Haven scheme in St Thomas, was reported missing on Sunday after leaving home early Thursday morning for work.

On Thursday, the police were alerted to the headless body of a woman in bushes, near the shore in South Haven, with her head nearby. The Yallahs police are yet to confirm the identity of the body.

However, Graham is convinced that the body belongs to her aunt.

Recalling the terrifying moment when she found the body, Clarke said, “When she went missing mi and mi cousin decided that we were going to check by the seaside to see if we see any sign of anything because we were thinking that maybe something had happened to her because that is not like her.

“So we were checking along the seaside, and I was walking at the top where the grasses and the bushes are, and I found the body.”

Continuing, Graham said: “Mi did frighten. Mi never really see everything at once. Mi just see the skull, but mi did go inna a shock.”

She recalled seeing blood on the shirt but believes that the woman was killed elsewhere.

Asked how she was sure that the body was that of her aunt, she said: “I know her clothes, her watch, her hat, and the vest that she wears to work. Everyday she wear the vest over her clothes, and she always wear a hat. It might be a different colour, but she always wear a hat.”

DISTRAUGHT

Graham said she was unable to recognise her aunt by her facial features as the head was decomposing.

According to her, the rest of her family members are in shambles and questioning why someone would kill her aunt.

Graham said she, too, was baffled as to why her aunt would be killed and was hoping for answers.

“To be honest, she is not the type of person who would trouble anybody. She does not linger anywhere. She just go to work and back home. She nuh talk to people, she nuh have much friend. You can count on one hand the friends that she have.”

She explained that Clarke left home on Thursday around 3 a.m. for work, but she did not make it there.

Clarke said she was alerted to her aunt’s disappearance after her manager called on Saturday, making enquires when she failed to turn up for work.

The niece said she contacted the taxi driver who usually transported her aunt and was told that she had confirmed pick-up for Thursday morning but never showed.

“He was the one that says he called her that morning to tell her he was on his way, and she said OK, but when he reached at the top of the road, he noticed that she was not there, but he kept calling her and not getting her, so he drive down and still did not see her, but passengers started to complain, and he had to leave,” she recalled.

Clarke’s supervisor, when contacted, said he and her colleagues were hoping for the best and were shocked to hear of the outcome.

He described Clarke as the company’s top performer.

“She was the best worker. There is this thing that we do every month for the top worker, and mi can close mi eyes and know that she a go get it. Even when she miss couple day she come out on top same way. If mi have 10 more of her, it would be ideal.”

The Jamaica Constabulary Force’s communications arm confirmed that the police had found a headless body in St Thomas about 2 p.m. yesterday and that the Yallahs police are investigating.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com