(Trinidad Express) THE BURNT BODIES of two men were discovered in a pick-up truck in a forested area in Rio Claro yesterday.
One of the bodies has been identified as that of Shiffie Roberts, 29, of Rio Claro, who was released from jail three years ago. Police suspect the second person was Patrick Nelson, of Guayaguayare, who is Roberts’s uncle, but his identity is yet to be confirmed.
Around 11.20 a.m., Roberts’s cousin, Dale Ifill, informed police officers that Roberts’s Datsun pick-up truck was seen on fire. Insps Wayne Doodhai and Fitzgerald George and Sgt Mohammed went with officers of the Eastern Division Task Force, Rio Claro CID and Homicide Division to the scene. The bodies bore gunshot wounds also, said police. Police said they found the remnants of two bags of dog food in the tray of the vehicle. Ifill told police that around 4 p.m. on Monday, Nelson contacted him and asked him to feed his dogs because he was in Rio Claro with Roberts. Police were told Roberts was last seen by a friend around 8.30 a.m. yesterday at Libertville, Rio Claro. Roberts was charged with murder in 2003 but found guilty of manslaughter in 2009. Two years later he was freed after appealing the case. Police said Roberts had a pending case with another person in the Rio Claro Magistrates’ Court of shooting with intent at Zita Wilson, 65, of Khandan Road, Rio Claro. Wilson was shot dead in October in her home, two weeks after her son was also gunned down. Roberts’s case was to be called later this month. The bodies were taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, for a forensic examination to be done today. The 2014 murder toll up to last night was 64 compared with 45 up to February 10 in 2013.