Noel Thompson and Nagra Plunkett, Gleaner Writers

WESTERN BUREAU:

Senior investigators in St. James, Hanover and Westmoreland were working feverishly yesterday afternoon to unearth clues into the deaths of a German national and her Jamaican partner, in what they suspect may have been a botched love affair.

The bodies of Claudia Leibl Letts and Clive Donaldson were discovered in bushes around mid-afternoon yesterday along the Maryland main road inAskenish, Hanover.

Letts, a 43-year-old realtor, had been living in Jamaica for about 10 years, and Donaldson, a 34-year-old electrician, both resided at Lot 90 in the Whitehall housing scheme in Negril, Westmoreland.

"The pair had been involved in a relationship and had been living together for the past six months," a police source told The Gleaner.

Police have confirmed that Letts and Donaldson were last seen about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, entering their home after disembarking from her 1998 silver Honda motor car.

Approximately 5:10 a.m. Wednesday, Letts' car was seen along Market Street in Montego Bay with three men aboard. The car was subsequently involved in an accident along that stretch of roadway, and two of the men fled the scene. They have not been seen since.

Letts' ex-lover

The third man was held on the spot and police investigations later revealed that he is Letts' ex-lover.

"Our information is that Letts and her former lover had been involved in frequent domestic disputes, which resulted in the court placing a restraining order on him," the source commented.

A search of Letts' car led to the discovery of a knife with bloodstains. Blood was also found inside the car. This led crime sleuths to the common-law couple's house in Negril, where bloodstains were seen around the house and inside the garage. The house had also been ransacked.

Intensive interrogation of the man led police to the bodies in Hanover about 2:30 p.m. yesterday. The man has not yet been named as investigations continue into the matter.

Meanwhile, the search for the two men who escaped from the car has intensified.