The decomposed body of 57-year-old Edward Merchant was found late yesterday afternoon in his 118 Greenheart Street, Mackenzie, Linden home.
The discovery was made by a tenant of the yard, Chevon Webster. According to Webster she last saw Merchant alive sometime last week. She said that since Tuesday there was a foul smell around the area but she thought it might have been a dead rat. However around 4:30 pm yesterday while burning garbage in the yard the smell emanating from Merchant’s house was very strong. This led her to peep into the house.
She recounted noticing the arm or leg of Merchant in a folded position and decided to call out to him. Since she got no response she decided to take a piece of wood and nudge at the body part. It was at that point she realized that the body was lifeless and raised an alarm and the police were called in.
Merchant was found on the floor of his little wooden abode. He lived alone and had no children. According to his niece Abiola Prescott her uncle lived alone all his life and said that she last saw him over a month ago. His siblings reside overseas.
Merchant was an ex employee of Linmine and was retrenched some years ago. He later worked with the town council before moving on to work at the Linden/Georgetown mini bus park.