A post-mortem examination yesterday confirmed that Donalesa Parks, the East Canje, Berbice woman who was found dead and wrapped in a garbage bag in a drain along the Corentyne Highway on Thursday, died from strangulation.
Police had suspected that Parks, 29, a hairdresser, of Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice, was strangled based on the injuries discovered on her neck.
Meanwhile, the suspect in her death, a Guyana Defence Force soldier, 33, remained in police custody for questioning.
According to a source, the police force’s Major Crimes Unit is spearheading the investigation. The source yesterday noted, that the suspect had continued to deny harming Parks.
Parks was last seen entering the suspect’s house on Wednesday evening, after which he left home during the wee hours of Thursday morning and informed his sister who resides at the location that he was heading back to his base.
The woman’s body was discovered hours after wrapped in a garbage bag in a drain located opposite the suspect’s house. A slipper and handbag belonging to the woman were also found in the drain.
Parks, a hairdresser, had left home on Wednesday to head to Islington, East Bank Berbice, to meet with a client to do her hair, relatives told Stabroek News on Thursday.
However, after her client, who was coming from Linden, eventually cancelled, Parks reportedly left and headed to Number 1 Village, Corentyne, where she was meeting with the suspect at his house.
Her uncle, Mortimer Amsterdam, 56, had explained, that they were told that Parks left Islington around 113:00 hrs on Wednesday. He stated, “She does do business with the boy (suspect). So he tell she he get detergents to sell and she going to collect it because she does always collect them things and sell it.”
According to the uncle, after Parks’ mother discovered that she did not return home on Wednesday evening she contacted an aunt and they began searching for her Thursday morning. Eventually, they arrived at the suspect’s house, where his sister informed them that her brother left home early morning – several hours before they had arrived.
She also reported to Parks’ relatives that she last saw the deceased woman on Wednesday evening going upstairs with her brother with a bottle of wine but did not think much about it.
Relatives of Parks later noticed some of her items in a drain opposite the suspect’s house. Upon investigating further, they found Parks’ handbag and a slipper belonging to her, and then eventually her body was discovered in the said drain a distance from the belongings.
Relatives of the suspect had also told Stabroek News that he had returned home earlier this week on leave and had informed them that he had to return to his base in two weeks’ time. However, when he left home Thursday morning in the wee hours he informed his sister that he had to go back to base immediately for work.
