DNA samples sent for testing have confirmed that the skeletal remains found in a clump of bushes at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara (ECD) on July 24, was missing teacher Nyozi Goodman.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Goodman’s mother Carol Greene said that while the test confirmed her daughter’s death, the family may never know how she died, since the man fingered in her disappearance is now dead.
Goodman, 36, of William Street, Kitty, who was a teacher at St Stanislaus College, was last seen at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on July 3. She had attended a basketball game with some of her students. A missing person’s report was filed with the police on July 6.
According to a police press release, the results of the DNA testing conducted by the Forensic Science Centre in Trinidad and Tobago on the samples taken from the body that was recovered at Turkeyen, confirmed the body to be that of Goodman.
‘We may never know’
“At least we know that she is dead,” was all Carol Greene could initially tell Stabroek News, when contacted about the confirmation of the remains being that of her daughter.
“The guy [who was suspected of her murder] died, so we may never know how she died,” Greene added. She said the unfortunate thing was that no one knew who picked up Goodman from Mandela Avenue, the night she disappeared. She therefore opined that “there is always safety in public transportation.”
Greene said she received a call from Crime Chief Leslie James, shortly after noon yesterday while she was at work, informing her that the samples of the skeletal remains found 21 days after Goodman went missing, confirmed her worst fear. “I went through the screaming…,” she said, adding that it was the comfort of colleagues at work that helped.
Greene told this newspaper that she had a dream on Tuesday evening about being lost and contacting the Crime Chief for help. She said that in the dream, she was somewhere by Eve Leary and could not find her way back home. So she called James, who sent a police vehicle for her. According to Greene’s dream, while she was waiting, three young women approached her and offered her a drop which she refused after remember the circumstances surrounding Goodman’s disappearance. She said the dream ended before the police car arrived. The interpretation is still a mystery, she opined.
On July 19, a handbag and an umbrella which were believed to be Goodman’s, were discovered in a pile of garbage at the back of the Botanical Gardens. Greene, although she was not sure, had stated that it might have been her daughter’s, since Goodman had a similar bag and umbrella. Five days after that, the skeletal remains now confirmed to be that of Goodman, were found at Turkeyen. That discovery garnered mixed reviews from relatives. While Greene believed that the body was not Goodman’s, although a belt belonging to the dead woman was found at the crime scene, her husband had told this publication, “I don’t believe she is alive.” In addition, Goodman’s brother Nestor Thompson, had indicated to investigators that a rotten tooth which was found at the scene, looked similar to one his sister had.
Moreover, an autopsy carried out on the skeletal remains revealed that the woman was stabbed several times to her abdomen. Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, who performed the autopsy at the crime scene, gave the cause of death as incised wounds to the abdomen.
On November 14, a man whom police said was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Goodman, was shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire with the police. He was also a suspect in the disappearance of Police Constable Patriena Nicholson, who vanished in August 2013 and has not been heard from since.
Greene said plans will soon be made to bury Goodman’s remains in Linden where she grew up.
Reflecting on her daughter’s life, the sorrowing Greene said she had been jovial, ambitious and loving. She explained that she last saw her daughter on July 2, one day before she disappeared.
Goodman, after graduating from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), started teaching, a job she did for 18 years until she was murdered.
Green said Goodman taught at Wismar Christianburg Secondary School, Christianburg Primary School and the Mackenzie High School in Linden. She then moved to Georgetown and taught at other schools, including her last post St Stanislaus College. She taught Geography, Social Studies and History. Furthermore, Greene said Goodman wanted to eventually be a criminal lawyer.
