THE female Venezuelan cook who was found Sunday last floating at Big Hope Backdam, Cuyuni, Region Seven was beaten and strangled to death.

An autopsy report revealed that Dimas Emilia Lezama Fermin, 28, of San Phoenix, Venezuela, died of asphyxiation due to compression injuries to the neck, compounded by multiple blunt traumas.
A miner and a dredge owner were arrested and are in police custody.

Reports indicate that the Venezuelan was in a relationship with the dredge owner who on Saturday last left the camp and reportedly left the cook preparing meals.

The dredge owner left with the workers and visited the landing where they began drinking alcohol at a shop and about 21:30hrs, the miner allegedly left the gathering and related that he was going to take a bath.
The police said the following morning around 06:30hrs, the Venezuelan’s body was found floating in a pit behind the camp where the men were working.

When the police arrived at the scene, the body was found clad in a blue jersey and without any underwear and bore multiple marks of violence.