Suspect held in brutal Mayaro double murder

The gruesome discovery of her corpse came about only when police went to her home to inform her that the body of her two-year-old son was found floating in a nearby river.

Ramlochan’s mother, Shakila Gookool, who last saw her daughter on Tuesday, yesterday cried over the deaths of her daughter and grandson. "My child work hard for everything she had. Her child was innocent; he can’t even talk or defend himself. They ain’t leave me with nothing," Gookool sobbed.

Homicide detectives yesterday detained a 26-year-old Mayaro man as their investigations continued. Police inquiries revealed that Ramlochan was last seen alive on Wednesday night leaving the man’s home at Cedar Grove in Ortoire Village, Mayaro.

Within the next few hours, police believe, she ended up in the clutches of her killer who stabbed her to death in a bed she shared with her son at their one-bedroom house at Solomon Street, Mayaro. The killer then wrapped her body in the bed sheet and dumped her head first down the latrine.

The killer then turned on Ramlochan’s infant Ishmael, two, who was found around 10 am on Saturday floating in the Ortoire River. There were marks of violence on his forehead.

Veronica Joseph, a 53-year-old villager who used to baby-sit Ishmael, said she last saw Ramlochan and the baby on Wednesday when the deceased brought the baby after taking him to the clinic.

"I was waiting for him as usual on Thursday morning and Friday morning. I asked my daughters who live nearby if they saw Ria, but they said her door was locked. I started to get worried because she would not go for days without telling me," Joseph said. Detectives are working on two theories over the murders — either that Ria was killed after being robbed and her son killed since he witnessed the incident or the two were killed as part of a crime of passion.

Gookool said her daughter was employed as a loans supervisor at NEDCO’s branch office at Mayaro Resource Centre and had a lot of money on her last week. Gookool said, "She had thousands of dollars in the house from money she collect from work. She also had her salary and money from a student loan. A lot of her jewelry is missing and her purse did not have her bank and ID cards. We can’t find any of this money now," Gookool said.

Ramlochan’s mother admitted her daughter lived a troubled life, saying earlier this year the deceased had taken out a restraining order against a 50-year-old male relative.

Inspector Fitzgerald George and Mayaro Police are continuing inquiries.