THE decomposed bodies of 28-year-old Youleana Charles and her five-month-old daughter were discovered in their Lot 408 Section C, Block Y, Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home by police in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Reports are that Charles, an Amerindian woman who initially hailed from the North West District, had moved into the rented house with her daughter last December, and little had been known about them. One neighbour explained that the woman did not “mix much with people”, and neighbours had very little knowledge on who she was.

The neighbour related that neither the woman nor her 5-month-old baby had been seen for the last few weeks; but, over the past few days, neighbours residing immediately next to Charles had begun complaining of a stench emanating from the yard. One neighbour who lives just next door reported that he had been receiving a foul odour since Sunday last.

Accordingly, another neighbour made efforts to contact the owner of the house, Clement Ramroop, who resides overseas. Ramroop then made contact with someone he knew in the neighbourhood, requesting that she check the house to see what was wrong.

Ranks from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) were then summoned to the location by residents, after which they broke the door and discovered the two bodies which were decomposed to the point of being unrecognisable.

Persons said that the woman’s husband, who is not always around, works in the interior location with a mining company, but neither the name of the man nor the company was revealed to the media.
He was reportedly last seen at the location about two weeks ago.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the deceased would usually visit her family for lengthy periods of time, and return when her husband was off-duty.

It was suggested that when persons did not see the woman or her daughter at the house, they were of the view that the duo was at the woman’s relatives, who live outside of the community.

Following the discovery, Ramroop informed his friend from the community that he would be seeking to immediately return to Guyana to address the unfortunate development at his premises.

The overseas-based man indicated that it was only two weeks ago that he had spoken with the woman’s husband concerning their tenancy at the Golden Grove property.

Because of the state of decomposition, crime scene investigators could not immediately determine if the two had suffered any form of physical injury prior to their death, or what may have caused their deaths.

The police are expected to perform a post-mortem on the remains in the coming week, even as they continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the mother and child.