Police have been contacted by a man in Tobago who feels that the two bound and decomposed bodies which were found on Thursday and Saturday in Corentyne, Berbice, are those of his brothers who went missing since last July following a trip to Grenada to purchase a boat.
Police sources told Stabroek News that the man made contact with them and said his brothers were 39 and 49 and that he would travel to Guyana to view the bodies to ascertain whether they were indeed his relatives. Because of this the police were unable to do the post-mortem examinations on the bodies yesterday as they are now awaiting the arrival of the men’s relatives, Stabroek News was told.
It is expected that the men’s relatives may be in the country by today but it is felt that it is unlikely that the men are indeed those missing from Tobago since they went missing since July.
A report in the Trinidad Express on July 16 had stated that Edgar and Vinton Frank went missing shortly after leaving Grenada on their cabin cruiser Reel Lucky.
The report had stated that Edgar, a retired soldier, and Vinton, a civil engineer, left Trinidad two weeks prior to the report to purchase the vessel in Grenada and bring it back to Trinidad. The two, who are originally from Speyside, Tobago, returned shortly after viewing the boat but left again, this time to take the boat back home.
Relatives had said that searches had taken place in Venezuela, Grenada, Barbados, Curacao and other islands but the brothers and their vessel remained missing.
When the two bodies were found on the Corentyne the men’s hands and feet were bound together with pieces of green rope. Their heads were completely bald and their teeth, eyes, ears and parts of their faces were missing. While it is believed that the men are not Guyanese it has been pointed out that immersion in the ocean water for long periods can lead to skin lightening. Persons who made the gruesome discovery had told this newspaper the men, who were without footwear, appeared to be just over five feet tall. A fisherman had said that he bumped into one of the bodies last Saturday morning as he was going to check his seine. He had said that he immediately turned back and alerted his son and brother who had a closer look.
The man’s hands and feet were tied together in front, almost in a crouching position and his body was braced on a mangrove tree. He appeared to be “nicely dressed” in a pair of “grayish” shorts and cream-coloured t-shirt. The other body was discovered last Thursday by a gardener. The body was on the shore in the vicinity of a fish pond. The police were informed of the discovery and initial reports stated that the body, which was swollen, was clad in a pair of ‘three-quarter’ light-coloured pants and was found face down. His hands and feet were bound together at the back and part of his left foot below the knee appeared to have been missing. (Oluatoyin Alleyne)
