The Tribune

POLICE are investigating the homicide of a female, believed to be in her late teens, who was found dead off a dirt road in the Gladstone Road area.

The teen’s body was found lying on the ground at the rear of a white Dodge Ram truck with no visible wounds, police said. The body was found some 300 feet from Gladstone Road, in a well field.

On December 18, police said a 17-year-old girl of Bradley Street was reported missing by her family. According to police, the girl was last seen on December 16.

It was reported that thieves abducted the teen, who was sitting inside a truck that was stolen last week, police said yesterday.

When asked if the dead teenager was the missing girl, Acting Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ferguson said: “I don’t want to speculate, but we are looking at all avenues, all missing persons are included in our investigations.”

Last night, he said police had not confirmed the girl’s identity.

Mr Ferguson could not say if the truck found yesterday was stolen, adding that police were still doing inquiries about the vehicle.

“Sometime around 5.30 this afternoon officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit, acting on information, travelled through a dirt road just north of Dignity Gardens approximately about a mile and a quarter through the bushes where they discovered a white truck,” he said at the scene. “Just at the rear of this truck lay the body of a young female (who) looked to be in her mid or late-teens.

“The circumstances surrounding this discovery (are) unclear at the moment, but suffice it to say that she is deceased. From all indications we are investigating a homicide and we are appealing to members of the public who may have information about this female who was dressed in all black, we invite you to make a report to police.”

The teen’s death brought the year’s murder count to 118, according to The Tribune’s records, one shy of the 119 murders recorded by police in 2013.

Last Friday, a youth was shot dead off Kemp Road.

Police said the youth, 19, was on Carib Road when someone in a Honda drove alongside him.

Two men jumped out of the Honda and shot the victim multiple times, police said. He was taken to hospital, but was later pronounced dead.