Suspects admit to roles in murders of elderly women, source says

Police say two of the four suspects held for the murders of two elderly women in their South Road and Albert Street home, have admitted their involvement in the crime and a manhunt is now underway for another suspect.

A police source told Stabroek News that the suspects reportedly provided investigators with statements detailing how the murders of Constance Fraser, 89, and her niece Phyllis Caesar, 77, were committed. Several missing valuables from the house have also been recovered.

The four suspects, including a woman who is said to be the spouse of the alleged mastermind of the crime, were arrested between Wednesday and Thursday.

The police were up to late yesterday afternoon following leads to locate another suspect.

            Constance Fraser                                             Phyllis Caesar

Fraser and Caesar, of Lot 243 South Road and Albert Street, Georgetown, were discovered around 9.30 am on Tuesday by members of their church, the South Road Full Gospel Assembly, after several efforts made to contact them proved futile.

Meanwhile, autopsies performed yesterday by     government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh on the remains of the women revealed that they both died as a result of asphyxiation due to suffocation and manual strangulation, compounded by trauma to the head.

At the time of the discovery, their bodies were in separate bedrooms. Their hands and feet were bound and they were both gagged.

It is suspected that they had been the victims of a robbery sometime between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, since the house was completely ransacked and several items were reported missing.

The door to the upper flat of the two-storey house was also discovered open and it is believed that the suspect/s might have gained entry into the house by climbing onto the verandah.

Stabroek News was previously told that it was customary for Caesar to open the church every morning. However, church members sensed that something was amiss on Tuesday morning when she did not turn up to carry out her duties.

As a result, they made several calls to her and visited the home but got no answer. They then noticed the door to the verandah open and upon checking they saw the bodies. The police were immediately summoned.

Fraser was a retiree, Caesar was the caretaker of the church and also worked at a private school located a short distance away from the home.