The Tribune

This story has been changed from an earlier version. On Sunday, a police crime report said the woman had multiple stab wounds, but they have now made it clear this was not the case.

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE weekend murder of a popular web shop employee in Long Island has left residents there distraught after the usually peaceful community was disrupted by news of which none could make sense.

When they arrived at her home in Deadman’s Cay just after 8am on Saturday, police found Andrea Carroll’s lifeless body with a head injury.

Her hands and feet were bound, police said.

A 44-year-old man believed to be her boyfriend is currently in police custody, assisting them with the matter.

Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the murder may have happened during a robbery attempt or an incident of domestic violence, Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander said yesterday.

Ms Carroll, who was reportedly 53, lived alone and had one child, a daughter attending college in the United States.

Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner said the murder unsettled the normally serene community.  

“Everybody is in shock,” she said when contacted yesterday. “You think about the idyllic lifestyle of the islands and to have something as horrific as this enter into a peaceful community is unnerving and unsettling. It’s unbelievable. Crime is everywhere. As one who is among those who sit in positions to pass laws to help to protect the people, I feel very helpless and really distraught to know that crime is all around us.

“(Ms Carroll) is a person I knew (for about) a decade,” Mrs Butler Turner said. “We go way back. After seeing her in Long Island, conducting her business and really not bothering with anyone that I am aware, having something like this happen makes you wonder what is going on. I spoke with her brother who was just at my house last Sunday. He was torn up, totally torn up and everybody in that area is in the same way.”

Mrs Butler-Turner explained that Ms Carroll had returned to Long Island from New Providence several years ago to take care of her “aging parents.”

“After both parents died she remained there, operating the business,” she said.

“I’ve spoken with people in the central area of the island, in the deep south, and everybody is in shock and just wondering who could’ve done something like this. I just hope the police are able to resolve this. It won’t bring her back but I would hate to think this becomes an occurrence where we become desensitized to murder.”

Long Island residents yesterday described her as mild tempered, out-spoken and educated, explaining that she was a respected voice in the community.

Kenneth Cartwright, owner of Seaside Village, a restaurant and bar on the island, said he was a lifelong friend of Ms Carroll.

He noted that on the day of her death, roads leading to her home became blocked as neighbours, family and friends flocked to mourn and try to find answers.

Another Long Island resident, who did not want to be named, said the community is stunned by the killing.

“I knew her well,” said the resident. “I grew up almost next door to her.”

People on the island suspect Ms Carroll may have been killed during a robbery attempt.

“It’s a total shock and people are quite afraid,” the resident said.

Adding a layer of mystery to the killing was the fact that “hundreds of people” arrived on the island for an event there over the weekend, the resident said.

“We had a function out here where there were some outsiders during that same weekend so it might have been somebody from outside that did this. I just don’t know of any people on this island that would do something like this.”  

Island residents, she said, are already taking precautions following the murder by locking their doors and closing their windows, measures they haven’t always found necessary.

The last killing on the island took place several years ago.

Ms Carroll’s death followed the murders of two men who were shot dead in Yellow Elder in New Providence on Friday just minutes apart.

Ms Carroll’s death brought the murder count to 109 for the year.

Police recorded 119 murders in 2013 and 111 in 2012.