(Trinidad Guardian) Missing sisters Felicia, 17, and Jenelle Gonzales, 19, were found yesterday alive and well. A search team found them at a makeshift camp deep inside the Brasso Seco forest under guard by two men. When the rescue team approached the men opened fire on them, before escaping into the surrounding forests. As some members of the rescue team pursued the suspects, the others attended to the sisters in the hiding place where they had been kept captive for the past 19 days.
The sisters were later led out of the forest and taken to the hospital for medical tests, before they were reunited with their relieved family members late last night. Elder sister Gail Harford said last night she was grateful her two sisters were found alive. Police said around 5.30 pm, soldiers and police again went into the forest at Lalaja Road after being given information by one of five suspects they had been in custody. They later found a camp but as they approached it they were shot at by two men. The rescue team fired back, forcing the gunmen to retreat and run into the bush.
The sisters were found in the camp and were later taken to the Arima Health Facility for tests. Up to last night, the police and soldiers were still searching the forest for the gunmen who, along with Azmon Alexander, are now the main suspects in the murder of two members of the sisters’ family and their neighbour.
3 dead in case
Only on Tuesday, a farmer’s keen sense of smell had led police to the body of the sisters’ mother Irma Rampersad, 49, who was snatched with them and 14-month-old Shania Amoroso on October 26 from their home. Rampersad was found tied to a tree and her right foot was missing. An autopsy subsequently revealed she had been strangled.
The family’s close friend Felix Martinez and Amoroso had been found, several miles from where Rampersad was discovered, last Saturday, in a blanket at the bottom of a precipice. Autopsies revealed Amoroso’s head had been bashed in while Martinez had been strangled. Martinez, 52, had initially reported the disappearance of the family to the police on October 26, a day after they went missing. He told police he was asleep in their house and awoke to find a kitchen window broken and the women and child missing. A few days later he too went missing but was believed to have been hunting.
Tip brings breakthrough
The search team, comprising members of the police, Defence Force, Fire Service, Forestry Division and villagers, had been searching the Brasso Seco forest since the family was reported missing on October 28. Five people, including three relatives of the family, were arrested during this period and it was on Thursday that one of the suspects in custody reportedly gave the police valuable information.
Earlier yesterday, the rescue team started searching the forest for the country’s most wanted man, Azmon Alexander, just after lunchtime as heavy rain delayed their start. Led by one of the five suspects in custody since the family’s disappearance, the team focused on two areas.
The search first focused in an area in the heart of the Brasso Seco community. Hours later the search team were taken to an area close to the house where the family was last seen. The search party, the T&T Guardian was told, got information then that Alexander was still in the area. The team cordoned off two exits to the Brasso Seco forest and began their search from either side towards the area where they were told Alexander was hiding. After getting more info afterwards, they returned to the forest again and this time were successful in finding the sisters. Alexander had not been found up to last night.
