–Left at scene for PM today

THE nude and decomposed body of a female was discovered late yesterday afternoon in a clump of bushes between the Railway Embankment and the East Coast Carriageway in the vicinity of Turkeyen.While the police have been unable to determine the identity of the woman, given the state of decomposition, speculation is rife that the body may be that of a city school teacher who went missing some two weeks ago.

After initial investigations last evening, the police were forced to leave the body at the scene under police guard, since moving it presented a potential challenge for gathering other clues to her death.

Today a post-mortem will be performed on the woman’s body at the site of its discovery.

The Guyana Chronicle has been able to confirm that after ‘C’ Division police received word that a body was at the location, they quickly rushed to the area and secured the site as crime scene investigators followed and began getting to work.

The body was then covered with what appeared to be a body bag to protect it from further damage by the elements as it awaits the post-mortem this morning.

Information reaching the Guyana Chronicle suggested that a man who was travelling along the East Coast Demerara public road on his motorcycle had a bowel movement and attempted to relieve himself when he decided to turn off from the main road and make his way through a bushy area. As the man reached what he thought was a safe and comfortable site, he stumbled on the body of the woman. He immediately telephoned Sparendaam Police, who informed the operations room in the division and the divisional detective officer, who responded.

The discovery was made just after 17.00 hours. This publication learnt that the woman’s feet were sprawled and she appeared to have had her right hand tied with the use of a cloth belt, while her underwear was found close by.

Investigators are of the view that the woman may have been raped and killed during sexual intercourse.

While investigators are not able to determine if the body is that of missing St Stanislaus School Teacher Nyozi Goodman whom family members reported as missing some two weeks now, a source close to the investigation related that the possibility exists, since she is the only recorded adult female reported missing right now in Guyana.

‘C’ Division police made contact with their counterparts in ‘A’ Division who have been handling the investigations regarding the missing teacher and who had received her description from her family. Nevertheless, the advanced state of decomposition makes it well nigh impossible to immediately identify the body.
Contacted last evening, all the family members of the missing teacher were in Linden, and could not travel to the city immediately to identify the decomposed body. However, they contacted a teacher of the school, who was scheduled to visit the site to see if the remains were that of the missing teacher.

Today the missing teacher’s mother is expected to be present at the site where the body was discovered and to remain for the post-mortem.

The teacher went missing two Sundays ago after visiting a basketball game with her students. She reportedly sent her students away after the game and informed that she would be picked up by someone. No one reported seeing who had picked up the teacher, and her disappearance remained a mystery.

(By Leroy Smith)