Two days after he was kidnapped, 16-year-old Roy Bell was found dead late Monday night, his body lying under a suitcase at Liliendaal.
Relatives suspect that the boy might have been dead for quite some time since the body showed signs of decomposition.
A release from the Police Public Relations Office yesterday stated: “About 23:30 hrs [Monday], the body of a male mixed race was discovered on the northern parapet of the Pattenson/Turkeyen Public Road, East Coast Demerara with a black suitcase atop of it.”
The police said the body was clad in black trunks, three-quarter light blue pants and a white Polo T-shirt. A pair of ‘Nike’ footwear was also found near the body, while a piece of cloth was stuffed in the mouth and another piece tied at the back of the neck. By early yesterday morning, Bell’s relatives had positively identified him.
The teen had left his South Ruimveldt home with his brother on Saturday morning to pick up some friends before going to Pizza Hut on Vlissengen Road. One of Bell’s relatives told Stabroek News yesterday that the teen and one of his friends left the fast food joint between 1:30 and 2 pm and joined a Kitty/Campbellville bus for downtown Georgetown. Bell’s brother went off to a private institution he is attending.
Bell reportedly followed his friend to her bus park before heading off on his own. From there his trail went cold until his kidnappers later called relatives demanding $10M.
The police said by Monday, that amount was dropped to $6M.
Sources told this newspaper that the kidnappers had last made contact with Bell’s parents at about 10:30 pm on Monday, one hour before the body was discovered, and had made arrangements to uplift the ransom.
A friend of the family was reportedly ordered to take the money to Campbellville. The man drove to the spot, but was further instructed, via cellular phone, to keep driving.
“They had him round and round. Then they ordered him to park the car and leave the money and the key in the car”, this newspaper was told.
The family friend then returned to the Bells’ home to wait with the family for news of the child’s release. Instead, they were told some hours later that there was a body was on the East Coast road. The police, in a subsequent release yesterday, said that after he was kidnapped, the boy was taken to Buxton.
Up to press time, the friend’s car that was used to drop the ransom, a white Toyota Corolla, PFF 2746, had not been recovered.
Bell’s immediate family remained silent from the beginning of the ordeal fearing that the boy might have been harmed if they said anything. At his South Ruimveldt home yesterday, the boy’s siblings were in tears. They still declined to comment. Inside the house, there was loud wailing.
The teenager was the third of four children of miner Ferguson Bell and Ingrid Joseph. Reports state that the couple moved from the Region Eight Amerindian community of Kopinang “not so long ago” so that their children could attain a better secondary education in the city.
Just moments before he found out of the youth’s tragic end, Roy Bell’s uncle, Senor Bell, Regional Chairman of Region Eight, told Stabroek News that they were all pleading for his safe return.
Senor Bell, who was, at the time, speaking about the crime situation in Region Eight, said: “It has come to a stage now, where at this point in time, my nephew was kidnapped on Saturday. It looks like the government has no control, or the police force has no control over this situation...The police force has to come up more strong, because the Minister of Amerindian Affairs is aware about it, [Local Government Minister] Harripersaud Nokta is aware about it...the Commissioner [of Police] and [Home Affairs Minister Ronald] Gajraj is aware about it, and to date, I have not seen any checkpoint, no roadblock, nothing on this road to say well, they looking for something. When the [US diplomat] was kidnapped, there was a whole set of fast movement...I am pleading for the boy’s life and asking that the Commissioner of Police make all effort to see what can be done,” the Regional Chairman stated.
Bell was the third kidnap victim to have been killed since the crime wave escalated last year. He was snatched on the same day that Regional Security Officer of the United States Embassy in Georgetown, Stephen Lesniak, was kidnapped from the Lusignan Golf Course.
After Lesniak’s kidnapping, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the police launched an intensive military exercise on the East Coast Demerara. Lesniak was released that very night after friends of his reportedly paid a substantial ransom.