Police late Thursday night found the car of murdered GTM manager Lionel Bert Whyte parked on a street at Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, Berbice but so far there has been no sighting of the suspect.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud told Stabroek News that a passing police patrol stumbled on the vehicle around 11 pm. He said investigators are now processing its interior for any evidence that could be used in a case against the suspect when he is found.
Persaud also revealed that the man that police are looking for resides in the same area where the vehicle was found.
Later, a police press release stated that the motor car PKK 6586 had fake identification number plates when it was found.
Police officials told this newspaper last night that now that the car has been found, the investigation has intensified. No details were provided as to the condition of the interior of the car or whether the murder weapon, suspected to be an ice pick, was found inside.
Police in New Amsterdam, this newspaper understands, conducted several searches for the suspect but came up empty-handed. However, they are on the look out for anyone matching his description.
Though police have all the relevant information about the suspect, a wanted bulletin is yet to be issued for him.
Meanwhile, Whyteโs sister Mary told this newspaper that the only update the family has received from the police is that his car was found in Berbice and that investigators have certain leads that they are working with.
The woman said she is clueless as to who the suspect is, before opining that the man may have already fled to Suriname.
She expressed surprise that the car was found in Berbice but said that the perpetrator may have been trying to get to the โporous bordersโ.
Persaud had said the suspect was closely associated with Whyte and shortly before Whyte was found with stab wounds, the two were seen in a car in the vicinity of Queen and Bentinck streets. An official at the popular Main Street night spot outside of which Whyte collapsed had told this newspaper that Whyte was seen running out of Hope Street.
However, Persaud said, an eyewitness had placed the wounded man and his companion in the vicinity of Queen and Bentinck streets. Bentinck Street runs parallel to Hope Street and they are bisected by Main Street and Queen Street.
He said the information is that the suspect was driving the car; Whyte was the passenger. Persaud said when Whyte collapsed in front of the night spot the man who assisted him asked if he had been robbed, but Whyte said no, he was stabbed.
An eyewitness who was passing the area at the time had recalled seeing two persons fighting in a car. However he realized something was wrong when he saw a man jump out of the car and begin running while the other person in the car drove off.
Police later arrested that eyewitness after a plainclothes policeman overheard him relating what he had seen to another man. The other man was also detained but the duo was released after a few hours of questioning.
Based on the timeline given to this newspaper, Whyte, 45, of 79 Phoenix Park, West Bank Demerara left his Robb and Hincks streets office sometime after 6 pm on Monday in his car. Around 8 pm, he collapsed in front of the nightspot five corners from his workplace.
Persons in the area where he was found said they had never seen him there before.
