Undertaker discovers dead man is his stepdad

UNDERTAKER Sheldon Neckles who works with Belgrove’s Funeral Home, got the shock of his life yesterday morning when on arriving at the scene of a hit and run accident, he discovered the victim was his stepfather. Neckles’ first duty yesterday was the hit and run accident in which the body of a man was found on the side of a road in Gulf View, La Romaine. When Neckles and his cousin Junior Peters who is also an undertaker, lifted the body to place it in a body bag, Neckles recognised the dead man’s face and gasped in horror and surprise.

The hit and run victim turned out to be his stepfather Keith Villafana, 53. Villafana, police believe, was knocked down sometime on Tuesday night. His body which bore injuries including a gash to the head, was discovered around 6 am yesterday by a passer-by, lying in a drain along the South Trunk Road in front of the traffic lights at Gulf City. When police arrived on the scene, EHS paramedics were examining Villafana’s blood-stained body.  Belgrove’s Funeral Home was notified and Neckles together with his cousin arrived on the scene. At first Neckles did not recognise the body.

“When I came on the scene I wasn’t paying attention to the body because I just came to do my job,” a shaken Neckles told Newsday at the scene yesterday. As he bent down to wrap the body, Neckles realised it was his stepfather, Villafana. Looking up at policemen and throngs of people who had gathered around, Neckles muttered, “this is my stepfather.” Being the closest relative at the scene, Neckles had to perform the role of formally identifying Villafana’s body to the police and removing it.

Neckles, an undertaker for the past nine years who lives with his parents in Siparia, was least expecting such a task. “Is nine years I doing this... so I get accustomed to death, but I never expected this dead to be one of my family,”  he said. Police believe Villafana was the victim of a hit and run accident. They also believe he may have been robbed either before or after the accident. Villafana’s wallet was found near his body in the drain but there was no cash or any form of identification, in it. A bunch of keys was also found next to the body.