Police arrest suspect in GB missing boys case; dismiss grisly rumours
By LEDEDRA FERGUSON Senior Freeport News Reporter lededra@nasguard.com
One person remains in police custody after several suspects were arrested yesterday in connection with the disappearance of five missing Grand Bahama boys.
Authorities also moved swiftly to quash rumours of body parts of the boys being found in a freezer.
At a media briefing Thursday morning on the latest developments in the case, Assistant Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said that overnight, more than three persons had been taken into custody, as a result of
"substantial" tips received by police.
The new development came three days after the fifth and oldest of the boys, Desmond Rolle, was reported missing.
"We have reasonable grounds to suspect and to question persons, and so we can detain and bring persons in for questioning," ACP Greenslade said. "At this early stage, what I'm saying is yes, we have detained persons, and as we proceed through the day we'll give you updates, and you will probably hear that we've brought other persons in who might assist us in this investigation and we're not sure where it will lead.
"But we will do the best that we can and we will try to report to you as soon as we can. But we are busy working and we are following what we have," he advised.
All packing boys
Jake Grant, 12, was the first to disappear on May 9. Mackinson Colas, 12, on May 16; Deangelo McKenzie, 13, on May 27; Junior Reme, 11, on July 29; and Desmond Rolle, 14, on September 28.
The boys were reportedly all packers at the Winn Dixie Foodstore and frequented a downtown video game room.
Police yesterday said Desmond was last sighted around 6:30 pm Sunday in the Williams Town area not far from his home on the beach.
In the absence of physical evidence or a crime scene, police expressed optimistim the boys are still alive.
Mixed bag of suspects
Although all the persons recently taken into custody were Bahamians, the police chief said that at various times during their investigation, foreign nationals had been detained.
ACP Greenslade declined to say where the suspects were employed or if they were believed to be known to the boys, as it could damage their investigation.
The police were also not prepared to state definitely if foul play was suspected. According to ACP Greenslade, the boys are still being regarded as missing and endangered, as they have no information to suggest any harm had come to them.
A safe return?
"We have no crime scene and we are now still in a mode of search, recovery and return of those children to their families," ACP Greenslade said.
Attributing the break in investigations to the public being more comfortable talking to police and the heightened state of alert,
ACP Greenslade said however that certain information critical to the case could not be disclosed.
Store cordoned, searched
Immediately following the press briefing, a team of officers descended on downtown Winn Dixie Supermarket during the later part of the morning, set up a perimeter and stopped would-be customers from entering for nearly an hour.
Some customers and store employees visibly startled by the police presence, moved quickly to the front
as police searched throughout the store.
While the search was underway, Assistant Superintendent Glen Miller, officer in charge of the Central Detective Unit, told media representatives,
"We don't know whether they are here or not.There is information that we have and we're going to check everywhere."
Up to that point, he said, nothing significant had been found, and police were receiving full cooperation from the store's management and staff.
Customers inside were allowed to continue their shopping and handed flyers of profiles of the missing boys as they exited.
Winn Dixie Manager Lynden Hepburn said that all of Bahamas Supermarkets' workers were saddened over the boys' disappearances and would continue to cooperate fully with the police.
Crowds watch in awe
A crowd of persons who flocked to the area after hearing the news via radio, grew rapidly as
more and more curiosity seekers and concerned residents converged on the area.
Police subsequently left, their next stop being the downtown game room.
The newsroom at The Freeport News was flooded for most of the afternoon by callers trying to pin down rumours of body parts discovered in a grocery store freezer.
The speculation was "absolute hogwash", ACP Greenslade said.
Caption: COMMUNITY CONCERN – Pictured is a portion of the large crowd that assembled outside the Winn Dixie Supermarket in downtown Freeport as police conducted a search of the premises. The store was considered a link in the disappearance of five missing youth who worked as packing boys. (Freeport News photo by Lededra Ferguson)
Posted Friday October 3, 2003
