(Trinidad Express) – The outrage continued on Thursday night in a country still reeling from the murder of ten-year-old Tecia Henry, with the discovery of another dead girl–suspected shot and body dumped at the roadside in Central Trinidad.
A man led police to the body of 17-year-old Amy Selena Joseph in an orange orchard off Solomon Trace, near Todds Road, Caparo. She was last seen by her family just after midnight on Tuesday.
The report of her disappearance was made on Wednesday afternoon and a ground search began.
Joseph lived with her family at Petersville Road, Cunupia. But for the past three weeks she had been staying with an aunt at Point Pleasant Park, Enterprise.
Her mother Yvonette Joseph, 40, said the family panicked when the aunt called at 2 pm on Wednesday asking if the girl was there.
The mother said “I last saw Amy on Tuesday. Around 2 pm, she called to say she was going to Chaguanas to collect her certificate for the cosmetology course she was doing. Then about six o’clock she came to my house with her cousin to pick up some clothes”.
The girl had planned to go leatherback turtle watching on the east coast with friends and relatives Thursday night.
Police were told that Joseph stayed up late on Tuesday night playing games on a computer. The family went to bed around 1 am, and she sneaked out. Two hours later, Joseph called a relative and asked that the gate be unlocked so she could get back in the house. She never showed.
A suspect in the case reportedly told police that Joseph was in his car when she found a gun and killed herself in a suicidal rage. He claimed that he drove to the orange orchard and dumped the body for fear that the police would accuse him of murder.
Meanwhile, an autopsy has revealed that ten-year-old Tecia Henry was strangled. But whether she was sexually assaulted still has not been determined. The advanced state of decomposition of the body was said to be a factor behind why the determination was not made yet and further tests are being carried out.
Diane Henry, the child’s mother, did not wish to speak with the media. Police said the child’s mother has several drug related matters in court and they are examining all theories as to the motive behind the crime.
Henry disappeared after being sent on an errand to the nearby K&G Mini Mart in John John, by her mother. Her decomposing and swollen body was discovered on Wednesday morning not far from her home. She was found stashed head-first in a hole below an abandoned house, with pieces of wood covering her body.
Five men have since been detained for questioning in connection with the murder, including one who gave himself up on Thursday.