The body of the Manager of ACME General Store, 54-year-old Sandra Dee Barker of La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, was found dead in her office by a colleague yesterday morning, two days after she was last seen alive.
According to a police report, a 911 call was received about 7.45 yesterday morning informing them of the incident. The report stated that police arrived on the scene five minutes later. It was further noted in the report that the store has one main entrance facing north to the western side which is secured with a metal door and external padlocks. There was no sign of any break-in.
Barker was found lying motionless in her office which is situated on the third floor of the store. EMT technicians pronounced the woman dead at the scene. No mark of violence was found.
During their enquiries, the police learnt that the woman was last seen alive on Monday at around 5.30pm.
Brother of the woman, Lex Barker, told Stabroek News that he is yet to get all the details of the incident and will be travelling to the city today from Port Kaituma where he currently resides.
According to the man, he was told by a colleague of his sister that yesterday the deceased’s phone was ringing in her office and they assumed that she was in the washroom. It was after a call came through on another phone for the deceased that they decided to check on her, but the grill to her office was locked. She was subsequently found lying motionless on the floor.
The brother said that Barker, who is the eldest of six children, was in the habit of sending morning greetings to him and their other siblings in their WhatsApp family group chat. She last sent them a greeting on Monday morning. He noted that when they didn’t hear from her, no one was too concerned as they sometimes go a day or more without chatting.
Asked whether she had been sick, Lex said that he was aware that she would have migraine headaches from time to time, same as him, but it was never anything to be alarmed about. Recently she was dealing with high blood pressure, said the man, but that was all he knew of.
Her body is currently at Lyken’s Funeral Home awaiting a post mortem expected to be done tomorrow.
Among those in mourning are the deceased’s daughter and three grandchildren currently residing in Barbados. Barker was said to have been with ACME for more than twenty years.
Police investigations are ongoing.
