Crime sleuths in Berbice investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of 17-year-old Melissa Shania Somah, whose lifeless body was pulled out of the Berbice River, in the vicinity of DeVeldt Village late on Thursday.

The body of ‘Lisa’, as she fondly called,was found with several injuries while her face appeared disfigured.She left her parents and her baby son behind at their Lot 58 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam home some three months ago.She told her parents that she was going up the Berbice River with her boyfriend called ‘Dicon’. That was the last time they saw or heard from her.

Her father, Paul Somah related to Guyana Chronicle that he was working at the car wash just after 17:00hrs on Thursday when he received a telephone call from the DeVeldt village captain, who told him that his daughter had died.

One version of events surrounding her death is that she was in a boat when she fell overboard.However, information from the riverain community suggested that there was an argument between the teen and a male who may have harmed her.He has since been arrested and who remains in police custody.

At the New Amsterdam stelling on Thursday night, scores of persons converged as they awaited the arrival of the teen’s body which was escorted by police.

As the detained man was escorted from the  police boat, the crowd called for justice.Police shielded the man from the boisterous crowd.

At the New Amsterdam hospital mortuary, where the body was identified by her mother Shondel Cobena, screams were heard from a distance as her parents stared in horror at the disfigured remains of their daughter.

“My daughter was burnt. There is no hair on her head. She was faceless.My daughter met a cruel death.That was not drowning,that was murder,”the teen’s father opined.

The body is currently at the Arokium Funeral home. A post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted shortly.