‘Bloodied bodies in the bathroom’

TWO DAYS after hosting a tea party at her Cascade house, Lynette Pearson’s body and those of two other relatives were found in the bathroom of the master bedroom with their throats slit. Now, two and a half years later, the details of the gruesome murders were made public yesterday as the trial of the two men charged with the killings commenced at the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court. One of the accused, 21-year-old Daniel Agard, is a relative of the murdered victims John Cropper, 59, Maggie Lee, 83, and, Lynette Lichglow Pearson, 51. The other man charged with the murders is 25-year-old Lester Pitman.

The bodies were discovered on December 13, 2001. They had reportedly been murdered sometime between December 11 and 13. The tea party, hosted by Pearson, was held on the evening of December 11. State prosecutor Trevor Ward told the court, presided over by Justice Herbert Volney, that on the morning of December 13, 2001, the Cropper’s housekeeper Agnes Williams reported for duty at the Mt Ann Drive house at Second Avenue in Cascade. The opened gate and the illuminated and ransacked house alerted her that “something was wrong” because the Cropper house was always secured and kept meticulously clean. She immediately made several phone calls and shortly after the arrival of relatives and close friends, the bloodied bodies of the victims were discovered. 

Police investigations eventually led to the arrest of Agard on December 14, 2001, and Pitman on December 19, 2001. Another man, Dion Jones, who had been hired by Agard to transport two televisions, a bag of “other items” and who assisted in selling jewelry stolen from the Cropper’s house, was arrested on December 18 and charged with receiving stolen property. He was later granted immunity. The items were recovered and positively identified as belonging to the Croppers. The 12-member jury, comprising four women and eight men, along with two alternates, listened intently to the evidence given by the nine State witnesses during the day.

The first witness to be called, Elizabeth Solomon, of The Hague, Holland, recalled her arrival at the house on the day in question. The front gate was open and the house was in complete disarray, she said. The scent of rotting food permeated the air and there were cigarette butts strewn around the floor. The human rights attorney said she entered the house and went to the bathroom of the master bedroom, where she saw Lee’s head with “blood all around.” She said she ran out of the room and looked in several other rooms for “Uncle John,” who was nowhere to be found. Another witness, Couri Jaye of Paris, France, told the court he had arrived on the scene with Solomon. The film producer said he had called the police prior to leaving the 31B Cascade Road, Cascade home he had shared with Solomon at the time. On arrival at the Cropper’s house, he said, he again called the police. He said he followed Solomon to the bedroom and heard her gasp before she ran past him.

When he looked into the bathroom, he said, he saw “some bodies on the ground” with blood all around. He was able to recognise Lee’s face before he ran after Solomon. He said he did not “look close enough to recognise the others.” Williams, the Cropper’s housekeeper for approximately five years, said she arrived at the house and observed several abnormalities. “All the lights were on, the gate was wide open and the car was not in the garage,” she said. After standing outside for a while, she eventually looked inside and saw that the place was “ransacked” and there were muddy shoeprints all over the floor.

She said she called out to Mr Cropper and Maggie, and walked to the corridor leading to the bedrooms. She said she looked into Lee’s, Pearson’s and Cropper’s bedrooms and they were all in a state of disarray. Feeling that something was wrong, she returned outside and spoke with Cropper’s sister-in-law, Maria. Sometime later, she said, the gardener, Solomon and Jaye arrived. Williams said she had seen Agard at the house in 1999 when renovations were being done to the house. Agard and Pitman are being represented by attorneys Wayne Sturge and Mario Merritt. State attorneys Ward and George Busby are prosecuting. Hearing continues today.