The body of another missing woman has been found dumped in the Mitan River.
The latest victim has been identified as Felicia Persad, who was found in a leather bag which had been tied to the root of a mangrove tree and weighted down with piece of a decorative concrete pillar.
Forestry Division employees who were trimming trees near the Mitan Bridge around 9 am yesterday discovered the bag and immediately called the police.
Detectives PC Racha and WPC Jordan, of the Mayaro CID, responded and used a pirogue to gain access to the bag.
Persad was found with her hands tied behind her back her, mouth gagged and with wounds to her stomach.
The body, which was attired in a red top, black pants and with a shoe on the left foot, was partly decomposed and police believe she was murdered elsewhere and dumped there.
The body was viewed by Dr La Borde and ordered removed to the Sangre Grande mortuary, where it was transfered to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where an autopsy is to be performed to determine cause of death.
Persad, 28, of North Oropouche Road, Sangre Grande, was reported missing about two weeks.
The T&T Guardian understands Persad had been threatened and she had applied to the court for a protection order. However, she was unable to get the court order due to administrative issues at the Sangre Grande Second Court.
Persad lived with her brother and sister at Oropouche Road, Sangre Grande, and was a sales clerk at a fashion store in Sangre Grande. A friend, who also did not want to be identified, said she was a happy young woman until her domestic problems began.
She said they had drinks on April 2 and Persad, who was dressed in a red top and black pants, told her she was heading to meet the owner of the business where she worked to hand over sales for that day.
The friend said when she did not hear from her later on she called her phone and heard screaming on the phone.
“That was the last voice I heard of Felicia,” she told the T&T Guardian.
Police believe an arrest is imminent once the body is positively identified.
A party of officers, led by Snr Supt John Trim, Supt Phillip, ASPs Robain, Joseph, Ag Insp Lutchman and officers of Homicide Region II and Arouca CSI led by ASP Dillon, visited the scene. Homicide officers are continuing investigations.
Only last month, the headless body of Eden Teesdale, 26, a janitor at the Mt Hope Hospital, was also found in the same river. Her body was found in a barrel which was floating down the river.
The torso had been stuffed inside the barrel with her legs protruding from the top. Teesdale, of Embacadere, San Fernando, was later identified through the fingerprint records which showed she had applied for a certificate of character on July 21, 2012.
In an unrelated incident, 41-year-old Robert Saunders, of Stone Street, Valencia, was found dead at Lewis Trace, Valencia, yesterday.
Police reported that around 7.30 am, they were called to Lewis Trace, Valencia, where residents reported seeing a body on the road.
A party of officers led by Snr Supt John Trim, Supt Phillip, ASP Robain, Sgt Lopez and officers attached to the Eastern CID responded.
On arrival they found Saunders with chop wounds and a bullet wound in the head.
District Medical Officer La Borde viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Sangre Grande District Hospital Mortuary.
Police had no motive for the killing.
Snr Supt Trim told T&T Guardian yesterday that they would maintain regular patrols and road blocks in the division and a special patrol unit on the from Toco to Matelot and from Manzanilla to Mayaro in the wake of these recent killings.
These two killings, and another Marabella (See page A4), brought the number of people murdered for the year to 140.