With September marking the anniversary of the unsolved killings of four Virgin Islands residents, police are asking the public to help them bring justice to the aggrieved families.
As part of an ongoing campaign to appeal for new evidence or other information, the police have started sending out such press releases every month that marks the anniversary of any unsolved murders, Police Information Officer Akia Thomas said in a Tuesday WhatsApp message.
On the morning of Sept. 21, 2004, a construction worker at a Little Bay house observed a body being tossed by the waves onto the rocky bay, police said in a Saturday press release.
After the police were contacted, Virgin Islands Search and Rescue recovered the body, which was identified as 23-year-old Trinidadian Melissa Spence, who had suffered several stab wounds, the press release stated.
The next year, at 1 a.m. on Sept. 18, Kendoy Penn was driving home when an unknown assailant opened fire on his vehicle.
Mr. Penn was rushed to the then-Peebles Hospital, where he was treated and placed on life support, but succumbed to his injuries on Sept. 22, police stated.
Almost a decade later, on the night of Sept. 12, 2014, Nyron Olliverre arrived at his Horse Path home, only to be shot several times by an unknown gunman.
Mr. Ollivere died immediately, the press release stated.
And at about 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2017, a group of men entered the Greenland residence of Julio Ceasor Pineda, where he was home with his family, and began “making certain demands,” the press release stated.
After one of the men shot Mr. Pineda and the group fled the residence, he was taken to the hospital, where he eventually died, according to police.
“September 2020 marks the sixteenth, fifteenth, third, and sixth-year anniversary … of these currently [unsolved] attacks,” the press release stated, adding that detectives “are still hopeful that members of the community may have crucial information to assist in identifying those responsible for this senseless murder, to bring some closure to the grieving families.”
Anyone with information concerning the unsolved killings is urged to contact Detective Inspector Vernon Larocque at 368-9809 or the Major Crime Investigation Team at 368-5682.