An elderly remigrant was early yesterday afternoon found dead in her home at South Amelia’s Ward, Linden with a piece of electrical cord around her neck and police are working with the theory that she was a victim of a robbery gone bad.
A suspect has since been detained.
The dead woman who lived alone has been identified by residents as Yvonne Adams aged 76.
Persons living in the community yesterday expressed shock at the killing. Sources say that following the discovery the police arrested a 68-year-old man, who was the last person to be seen in the woman’s company.
When he was held a source said, he had the keys to the woman’s two-storey home in his possession.
According to a taxi driver who plies the Mackenzie to Amelia’s Ward route, he was passing the area around 3 pm when he saw a group of persons standing in front of the woman’s home. He said that when he inquired he was told that Adams had been found dead with a rope around her neck.
The man recalled that a few weeks back he had dropped her home and he had to assist her with her bags and groceries since she used a walker.
“The people who did that wicked,” the taxi driver said, adding that Adams was a nice woman. He described the woman as having a nice voice and a nice accent from which you could tell that she had just come back from overseas.
He noted too that when she paid him, she had a lot of money with her.
Meanwhile, a resident told this newspaper that it was the woman’s absence that drew suspicion. The resident could not say what the woman’s connection to Linden was but said that she had no known relatives living there. The resident said too that when she was found rigor mortis had already set in.
Persons who are familiar with her also said that she didn’t have any family living in the area.
A resident said that the area where the woman lived was not isolated and noted that within recent times there had been no reported break and enter incidents there.
Police spent several hours at the scene looking for clues during which time the body was removed. This newspaper was unable to get information as to whether the interior of the house had been ransacked.
From all indications neighbours heard no suspicious sounds coming from the woman’s house.
The murder of this elderly woman comes on the heels of another which occurred last week. Joyce Lewis aged 75 was found strangled in her North Ruimveldt home last Wednesday. It is suspected that she was also sexually assaulted. Police have not yet made an arrest in that case.
