Amid the hustle of pedestrian traffic in Mandeville, Manchester, yesterday, a sign posted on the business place of missing couple Richard and Julia Lyn spoke silently: 'Closed until further notice.'

At the same time, the Area Three Police were reporting that they have been receiving useful information since Tuesday, when the children of the couple announced a reward of $500,000 for clues that may lead to the safe return of their parents.

Richard Lyn, 75, and his 71-year-old wife have been missing since Sunday morning. Droplets of blood were discovered at their Battersea home, near Ingleside, Manchester, and their two cars and appliances, including a refrigerator and a washing machine, were also missing.

No link

But yesterday the Area Three Police ruled out any link between this latest incident and at least two other cases where the houses of two returned residents were stripped of appliances and other contents.

"There are only speculations, there is nothing to suggest a link," said Deputy Superintendent Cleon Marsh, the acting crime officer for the Area Three Police.

But this has not eased the concern of many Mandeville residents. "This thing here has to stop," Pastor Oret Banton told The Gleaner/Power 106 News. He and other church members had just spent several minutes praying for the safe return of the missing couple and for a solution to what he says is becoming a chronic crime situation in Mandeville.

"It really affects the whole business community and people of all walks of life. People will shy away from the area and the whole country," he said.

President of the Returned Residents Association of Mandeville, Hyacinth Jones, agreed. She said she has considered returning to London where she lived and worked for many years, noting that other returned residents have expressed similar sentiments.

In the meantime, the police are continuing their analysis of forensic tests as they intensify their probe into the disappearance of the elderly couple.