18-year-old woman found hanging

AFTER a fight with her common-law husband who did not want to attend a farewell party, an 18-year-old woman was found hanging in her Princes Town home. La Toya Marcano, of Broomage No 1 Road, was found around 5 am hanging from a bedsheet tied to a rafter in her bedroom. Marcano, police suspect, climbed up the side of her baby boy’s wooden crib to secure the noose around her neck, then jumped to her death. Marcano’s body was discovered by her common-law husband Rajnath Rampersad, who had spent the night on a couch in the living room after the couple’s argument.

Newsday was told that on Saturday night, Rampersad, 23, and Marcano went to a farewell party at a neighbour’s house and returned home. But later around 11 pm, the mother of one insisted they return to the party, but Rampersad had refused. The couple began to quarrel, and escalated as Marcano threw a coffee cup at Rampersad that struck him and slashed his face. Rampersad in turn began slapping his common-law wife, and  Rampersad’s step-father, Harold, 70, parted the fight. Marcano ran into the couple’s bedroom and locked herself in, while her husband slept on the couch. The couple’s 16-month old baby, D’Angelo, was spending the night at a relative’s house. Some five hours later, Princes Town police were called to the house when Rampersad discovered the body. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Marcano wrote a suicide note before she hanged herself. District Medical Officer Dr Silochan examined the body and ordered it removed to the San Fernando Mortuary. Rampersad was being questioned by police yesterday. Cpl Skelly of the Princes Town Police is continuing investigations.