By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
WITH THE new year only three days old, the nation was yesterday rocked with its first case of double murder.
The victims were a 38-year-old mother and her eight-year-old daughter. They have been identified as Michelle Thornton, a Bahamian national who had been living in Jamaica for the past four years, and her daughter, Marley Thornton. Their bodies were found in a bedroom at their Mount Pleasant district home in Runaway Bay, St. Ann.
The child and her mother were found with hands and feet tied to a bed. The mother had multiple stab wounds, while the daughter appeared to have been strangled. Residents said they were last seen alive shortly before 10:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Reports are that the gruesome discovery was made by family members who went visiting the Thorton home. The police are now looking for an aquaintance of Mrs. Thorton, who they believe can assist with their investigvations.
There are allegations that Mrs. Thornton might have been killed by a close friend who was a frequent visitor to the home. It is also alleged that in recent times Mrs. Thorton and the friend got involved in a series of heated arguments.
SIX MURDERS
Last year there were 38 reported cases of double murder across the island. Since the start of the new year at least six persons have been murdered according to the police. The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) has reported that at the end of last year 975 people were murdered, 70 less than the number killed the previous year.
Among those murdered since the start of the year are Linval Powell, 34, of William Street in Montego Bay, St. James. He was chopped and killed yesterday morning, by a man who attacked him with a machete.
On New Year's Day, the body of Mark Grant was found with gunshot wounds at a tenement yard on Orange Street, in downtown Kingston. Also on New Year's Day, the body of 41-year-old William McClymont was found in a pool of blood with gunshot wounds, lying beside a Toyota motor car, on the Shawfield main road in Falmouth, Trelawny. The police believe the car was being used as an illegal taxi.
