The semi-nude corpse found in a drain in San Fernando on Saturday has been identified as Duane “Popcorn” Taylor.
Police said Taylor was a person of interest in four murders in south Trinidad.
Taylor, who lived in Morne Diablo, Penal was suspected of being involved in the January 21 murder of Jerome “Pum” Calliste along Coffee Street, San Fernando.
Detectives probing the murders of Kevin Fuller, Terry Edwards and Sanjay Mahabir said Taylor’s name also came up in their investigation.
Taylor’s body was found near the School of Accounting and Management along Blanche Fraser Street after someone called the police and reported loud explosions in the area.
Officers visited the scene but did not find anything. However, they were recalled to the area around 2 pm and found Taylor in a kneeling position. Taylor was wearing only his underwear.
His head, which had several injuries, was partially submerged in water. A bloody boulder was found next to the body and a pair of pants was found further up the drain. An autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre, St James on Monday confirmed police suspicions that he died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.
Last January, Calliste, of Phase II, Golconda was in his silver Nissan B 15, parked outside the Lai King Chinese Restaurant and Bar at the corner of Drayton and Coffee Streets.
Around 10.15 am, a gunman opened fire on him, striking him several times. He stumbled out of the vehicle and into the bar where he collapsed. He was later pronounced dead at the San Fernando General Hospital.
In March, gunmen stormed the Runway 69 ‘Shorts’ Bar along Wellington Road, Debe, killing Fuller, a scrap iron dealer from Princes Town, his childhood friend Edwards and Mahabir, who was just a resident liming at the bar.
Investigators suspected that the murders were a paid hit against Fuller in reprisal for the 2015 murder of T&TEC linesman Roger Romain, who was shot dead outside his Penal home.