Concerned friends assist this relative of Bertram Dixon. The woman fainted when undertakers emerged from a swamp with Dixon's body. - Dalton Laing photo

SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland:

Four days of uncertainty and anxiety over a missing St Elizabeth man ended with the discovery of his body partially buried in a swamp in Westmoreland on Saturday morning.

Concerns were raised over Bertram Dixon, 34-year-old mason of Barton in St Elizabeth, when he did not return home from a visit to a friend in Water Cress, Westmoreland last Tues-day. His mother Clover Dixon was concerned about him not returning home and a probe into his disappearance began.

Suspicious

"When him never come back me get worried because he is not the type to leave and not come in," the mother said. She said that the following morning she sent a smaller son to the friend's house to find out what had happened but the report was that Dixon had left at 6:00 the previous evening.

The family heard a story about a man that was found dead but when they went to Savanna-la-Mar on Thursday to investigate, it was not their relative.

Search party

On their way back to St Elizabeth they stopped at the Bluefields Police Station to report Dixon's disappearance.

A search party returned to Water Cress on Saturday and after learning that Dixon was seen with the friend heading in the direction of the swamp, launched a search. After a few hours of combing the knee high mud, they stumbled on the body.

The police are now in search of Dixon's friend who they had previously arrested under suspicion but released, saying there was not enough evidence to hold him.

The family is uncomfortable about the way things played out, saying the police should have charged the suspect.

They claim that the suspect was the last person seen with Dixon and that he was also seen riding Dixon's motorbike.

- Dalton Laing