Murder suspect reported victim missing – Police

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) said the suspect in custody for the fatal stabbing of 44-year-old beautician Karen Cleary is the one who actually reported the victim missing.

Police yesterday found the body of the Jamaican-born Cleary in a shallow grave at a house she was building in Boscobel, St Mary.

The victim lived in England for some 20 years, but returned to the Caribbean island recently to oversee work on her dream house. Reports indicate that the suspect was a labourer on the project, and that the murder is linked to a dispute over work done on the house.

When relatives in Jamaica and the United Kingdom did not hear from Cleary, they became concerned.

The suspect, who reported the woman missing, gave information that raised the suspicion of local detectives, the JCF said.

“Reports are that, on Sunday, November 25, inconsistencies were detected in a missing person report filed for Mrs Cleary-Brown by the suspect, causing detectives to immediately widen and intensify their investigation.

The JCF continued: “This [missing person report] led detectives to carry out investigations at her (Cleary’s) home in Boscobel, where her decomposing body was found in a shallow grave about 5:30pm on Monday, December 3.”

The JCF noted that the name of the suspect is being withheld, pending further investigations.

Karen Cleary and the dream house she was building in St Mary

Meanwhile, the reason police had not released their usual ‘missing person’ report in relation to Cleary had been puzzling.

In fact, days after Cleary disappeared, the St Mary police, as well as the Corporate Communications Unit of the JCF, said no missing person report had been filed regarding the London resident.

But Cleary’s British partner, Andy Kane, in interviews with The Beacon, insisted that a ‘missing person’ report was made at the Oracabessa Police Station in St Mary.

He, last week, also said he did not believe information that the late Cleary had left her St Mary home to visit Portmore in another parish.

“It is alleged that she left for Portmore with some people visiting the island, but, personally, anyone who knows her doesn’t believe that for one minute,” Kane told The Beacon last Friday (November 30) while the search for Cleary was ongoing.

Kane also disclosed last Friday that a suspect was in police custody.

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The JCF did not disclose any information about the case to the press until today – several hours after Cleary’s body was found.

Cleary’s partner, Kane, in the meantime, said the JCF kept the bereaved family in the know.

“I would like to thank the JCF for their fantastic efforts in bringing this case to the point we are, and I am convinced Karen will get justice. Especially, I would like to thank Ms Williams – the person in charge of the investigation, and also Detective Harrison for the way they have kept us informed,” he said.

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