– girlfriend provides alibi for retired US army man
All of the suspects who were detained in the Smythfield, New Amsterdam double murder have been released on station bail, the last two gaining their freedom on Friday afternoon. Police said the killings remain a mystery but investigations would continue.
The gruesome discovery of the remains of Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, 18-year-old Alexis ‘Keisha’ George was made between 6.30 am and 7 am last Sunday. They had wounds to their necks. Rouse’s body also bore stabs to the left ear and right shoulder.
One of the six people arrested was released on Monday and three more on Wednesday afternoon, while the High Court granted a police request for the extension of the detention of two others.
Police sources had said that charges were likely to be laid against the two suspects pending further investigations. However, they were set free on Friday.
The girlfriend of Tyrone Talbot, one of the suspects and an early-retired sergeant in the US army, told this newspaper yesterday that she was peeved at a report that was carried in the Kaieteur News about him. The woman, who gave her name as Jade, said “the person they portrayed in the papers is not the person I am spending time with.” She said the report read as though the newspaper had already found him guilty of the crime.
Jade who lives in Georgetown said she was spending time with her aunt in New Amsterdam when she met Talbot who arrived in Guyana from the United States on December 21 and was staying with his adopted mother in New Amsterdam.
She said at the time he was in a relationship with Rouse, but when they broke up shortly after, she became involved with him and continued staying at her relatives’ house.
Jade said that on Valentine’s Night she was preparing to go out with her girlfriends as Talbot, who was recovering from the flu and also had a pain on his left shoulder, could not go.
However, she said, as she was about to leave home he dropped by with bread that his mother had baked. She said she then changed her mind about going out with her friends and went over to his house instead.
According to Jade, around 6.30 or 7 am they were awakened by the telephone; someone was calling to tell them about the murders. She said Talbot was “majorly shocked.”
They subsequently received other phone calls, she said, and he “got dressed and picked up his inhaler for his asthma complaint and stuck his ID – which he never leaves home without – in his pocket” and left for the scene.
The woman said he returned shortly after and about 15 minutes later the police arrived and arrested him. She was also placed in custody and was released the following afternoon. She said the inhumane condition of the station made her ill.
Jade who got a new
hairstyle for Valentine’s Day said jokingly “I had my hair done to go ‘out’ in the lock-ups.”
The woman said Talbot had “moved on with his life….” She said he had been booked to return to the US on January 21 but extended his time until March to be with her and also to be here for the Mashramani celebrations.
Jade vowed that Talbot would be able to “prove his innocence because God is in charge. I just wished if I could go to sleep and wake up and think it was just a bad dream. I am just waiting to hug and squeeze him and even hit him for not going back on January 21.”
Reports are that Rouse was on the phone with a female friend moments before her demise and had told the friend that she had to go because a male friend (whose name Rouse reportedly mentioned) was at the door.
Investigators said the killer appeared to have been invited into the house as there was no sign of forced entry. Rouse had been at a party the night before and a male friend reportedly dropped her home some time between 3 am and 4 am.
Reports are that the attacker must have also been an acquaintance because he had apparently removed his footwear before entering; bloodstains on the kitchen floor showed that the attacker was barefoot.
It was suggested that George may have heard a commotion in the house and got out of her bed to investigate when she too was attacked. She fled down the stairs, leaving a trail of blood and across the street into the neighbour’s yard where she collapsed.
Her body was discovered in a yard obliquely opposite – under a tree, braced on an old stove – while Rouse’s remains were found in the kitchen. They were both covered in blood.
Police are urging persons to come forward with any other useful information and assured that it would be treated in the strictest confidence.
The remains of the two women were expected to be interred today.
