Ranks of the Guyana Police Force in the early hours of Thursday morning apprehended the prime suspect in the murder of 14-year-old Malika Hamilton of Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara.

The suspect, who has been identified as ‘Satan’, managed to elude the police for almost a week; however at around 4:00h on Thursday he was found hiding in a barrel in the Ann’s Grove cemetery.

The teenager’s body was found on August 09, 2016, in the Hope Canal. Pathologist Dr. Nehul Singh conducted the autopsy on the body and found she was brutally bludgeoned to her head, strangled, and dumped alive in the Hope Canal.

The second year Hope Secondary School student died of ‘asphyxiation’, a condition of severe deficient supply of oxygen to the body as a result of abnormal breathing. An example of asphyxia is choking.

The autopsy report also revealed that before Hamilton was thrown into the Hope Canal while still alive, she suffered ‘blunt trauma to head’ and ‘compression injury to neck’, her cousin Dr. Saska Sertima told the Guyana Chronicle.

The ‘Miss African Calabash 2014’ beauty queen had left her home at Lot 11 Two Friends Village, Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara, but never returned. Her body was fished out of the Hope Canal the following day, where it was spotted by the canal’s ranger.

Relatives of the dead teenager are calling for swift justice as police investigations continue.