Couple found dead in Buxton home
Year-old son locked in house three days, hospitalised
By Samantha Alleyne
Stabroek News
May 22, 2004
A Buxton family was thrown into shock yesterday morning following the gruesome discovery of the swollen bodies of a young couple, the result of an apparent murder/suicide. The couple's year-old son had been locked in a room for some three days and four nights with his parents' bodies in another room.
Twenty-three-year-old Luana Cromwell and her reputed husband, William Simon, both of Lot 8 Middle Walk, Buxton, East Coast Demerara, were discovered dead in their home early yesterday morning.
Their one-year-old Enkofi was admitted to the George-town Public Hospital to be treated for dehydration after being left locked in the house with his parents' partly decomposed bodies and nothing to eat.
Relatives yesterday des-cribed the young child's miraculous survival as "an act of God."
A release from the Police Public Relations Office yesterday said they have launched an investigation into the circumstances, which led to the discovery of the bodies in a stage of decomposition about 6 am yesterday.
The release said the couple shared a common-law relationship and had a history of domestic violence and were last seen alive on Tuesday. They were discovered lying next to each other. An electric wire from a fuse box was attached to the woman's body, which bore burn marks.
Yesterday, relatives said while they were aware that the two had domestic problems they were totally shocked at the outcome because Simon had never hit Cromwell.
Simon was an electrician and was employed with a contractor but from time to time would do work around the village. Cromwell only gained employment with Federal Management Systems in the archival department about three months ago.
Simon had lived at Linden but after meeting Cromwell he moved to the East Coast village and commenced the common-law relationship about two years ago. The couple lived with the girl's father but later moved to the house on Middle Walk, which belongs to a relative of the woman.
An uncle told Stabroek News yesterday that he last saw Simon when he visited the girl's father on Monday night. A sister of the woman said she heard from her on Tuesday morning. Relatives feel the couple died later that same day since some clothes were still hanging on the line and the garage door was opened.
The uncle said after the couple was not seen for a few days he assumed they had gone to Linden, as they would do so from time to time without informing anyone.
He recalled that the woman's place of employment kept ringing to find out why she was not at work and he had rung other relatives but no one had seen them. However, no one thought to contact Simon's relatives in Linden.
It was after residents complained about the stench emanating from the house that an uncle and his friend decided to break open the door and made the gruesome discovery.
According to Cromwell's stepfather, from all appearances the couple was electrocuted. He told Stabroek News that Cromwell was lying on the bed with an electric cord tied to her toe, wrapped around her body, tied to one of her fingers and plugged into the wall. He said also that the house appeared to have been drenched in water which would have caused the electrocution to be more effective. Simon apparently killed himself by throwing his arms around his reputed wife, as that is the position he was found in.
A relative said that while the two had problems they never thought it was that serious.
"What I know it had nothing to do with any triangular affair. It is just that they had their problems and they could not make it..." one relative said.
However, the relative admitted that the young man had threatened the woman from time to time.
Stabroek News understands that about three months ago the man had gone back to Linden. He returned to the Buxton home some two weeks ago.
Simon was described as a "smooth operator" who was clean cut.
What was also shocking was the discovery of the couple's son. Relatives said that when they broke into the house, the child was sitting on the floor clutching an empty bottle [not a feeding bottle]. He was not crying, but was obviously weak and hungry. Last evening he was tucked away in the children's ward of the hospital.
Because of the decomposed state the bodies are lying at Le Repentir Mortuary and relatives of Cromwell are hoping to bury her on Monday following an autopsy.