An apparent arson murder/kidnapping on Saturday morning has rattled Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara and relatives of a 22-year-old woman were last night clinging to the hope that she will be returned safely to them.

Velda Bernard has not been seen since Saturday night after she entered the house she shared with her father and mother.

Her father, Vernon Bernard, perished in the fire which completely destroyed the house. Relatives believe that Vernon was set afire by a wanted man.

The fire, which neighbours said started at around 1 am on Saturday, left the sixty-four-year-old Bernard dead and incinerated all of his family’s worldly possessions.

His grieving wife, Dorothy Bernard, along with numerous relatives were yesterday scouring the backdam in search of her twenty-two-year-old daughter.

The family’s spirits were lifted yesterday morning after the young woman made three calls to a relative’s home in Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.

According to young relatives of the woman, she called yesterday morning asking for her mother but they were unable to get any information from her and on the other occasions she called the same thing happened.

The younger Bernard has been missing from the area since the fire and her mother suspects a man wanted for murdering his reputed wife to be behind the abduction of her daughter, murder of her husband and torching of their home.

Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday morning the grieving woman recalled that she left her home since Thursday morning and slept in Plaisance that night which is a weekly routine for her since she goes to early morning prayers on Friday.

She said she was about to leave her cousin’s home on Friday evening when the cousin told her that she should spend the night.

The woman said that after calling her daughter on her cellular telephone and informing her that she would not be returning home that evening she spent the night.

The woman related that her husband, who was a mechanic in his younger days, has not worked for years because of an illness and she has been supporting him ever since.

Her daughter, who is a student at the Government Technical Institute (GTI), is also a teacher at the Tucville Secondary School.

According to the woman the minibus driver who dropped her daughter home on Friday evening informed her that the house was in darkness and Velda remarked that that was strange. As a result she asked the bus driver to keep his headlights on and to wait until she was in the house which he did. The woman feels that her daughter’s abductor was in the home waiting for her.

She and residents are of the opinion that the wanted man, who is a relative of her husband, is behind the tragedy.

She related that the man once lived near to them with his relatives before he was sent to jail for killing a woman. She said that the man held a grudge against her husband because he felt that her husband along with herself and daughter reported his wrongdoings to his family. On many occasions, the woman said, he would curse them but that was around two years ago.

Since then, the man has been sought in connection with the murder of another woman, his reputed wife, and he has been seen in the village on several occasions. On one such occasion he is alleged to have kidnapped and raped a young woman. The woman has since fled Stanleytown.

The grieving Bernard said that after committing the acts the man reportedly told someone that he had five persons to kill: herself, her daughter, her husband and two other relatives.

She feels that he acted out his threats that fateful Friday night/Saturday morning.

Bernard believes that her husband was murdered then doused with some kerosene before the house was set afire. She said the body was burnt beyond recognition.

The woman said that while she was not there that night she has no doubt in her mind that the wanted murderer is behind the acts. She said when her daughter is found she would be able to hear the entire story.

The woman related that she had lost all of her life’s savings, $470,000, which she would have used to renovate their home. The money was taken out of the bank to be given to the carpenter on Saturday, however, it was either stolen or went up in flames.

Yesterday, as the woman and her relatives scoured the backdam for the missing young woman many residents said that the police could have done a better job in apprehending the alleged murderer. Many reported seeing him in the area and up to yesterday morning a man reported that he saw him in the backdam. Police from the Wales Police Station were yesterday on the scene and they went in the direction the man was reportedly seen.

The girl’s relatives were yesterday angry at the attitudes of some villagers. They pointed out that even though the family has been living in the area for the past four years no villager volunteered to assist the family in the search for the missing girl.