Missing Nigel’s body found in shallow grave

THE mystery surrounding the disappearance two weeks ago of friends — Nigel Allen and Nigel “Cat” Roderique — has ended in tragedy. The body of Allen, 32, of Cocoyea Village, San Fernando, was discovered buried in a shallow grave on Monday night in a Claxton Bay canefield. However, police detectives who found Roderique with his hands and feet tied last week have since detained the 30-year-old man of Diamond Village, Claxton Bay. Up to late yesterday, Roderique was being held in the San Fernando Police Station. A police party dug up the decomposed body of Allen from  a three-foot deep grave off Diamond Village Road at 9 pm on Monday.

The discovery ended two weeks of searches by relatives and police for Allen, who had left his Cocoyea Village home on December 7 to meet a man named “Cat” at Diamond Village. Allen failed to return home, but his Black B-13 Nissan Sentra was found near the Forres Park dumpsite in Claxton Bay. Roderique’s common-law wife, Denise Phillip, of Diamond Village, told police that Roderique, also known as “Cat,” disappeared after he left home with $13,000 on December 8. The woman said both Allen and Roderique were friends, but she could not explain his disappearance. Around 2 am last Friday, a party of policemen found Roderique tied up at the side of a road in Ibis Gardens, Kelly Village, Caroni.

After ensuring that Roderique had received medical treatment, however, detectives of the Homicide Division (South) detained him and, up to yesterday, Roderique and another man were still at the station. According to a police report, a man led a party of detectives into the Diamond Village canefield at 9 pm on Monday. The police party including ASP Ruthven Paul, Insp Fitzgerald George, Cpl Simon and PC Ali, found a clearing in the canefield where they discovered the shallow grave. Using shovels, policemen unearthed the decomposed body in a crouched position. A district medical officer viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James, where an autopsy was expected to be performed yesterday. Allen’s disappearance had evoked a placard appeal at the Mon Repos roundabout among relatives who pleaded for public support to find Allen. When Newsday visited the family’s home yesterday, Allen’s sister, Natalie, refused to speak about the incident.