Brother of woman murdered in 2023 berates investigators

Investigators from the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) are being accused of bungling the murder investigation of Sherol Lenteria Phyllis Knights of Dorsetshire Hill.

Knights was chopped and stabbed at around 12:15 a.m. on Monday, July 10, 2023 in the home she shared with her father At least two persons were questioned in relation to the murder of the 26-year-old, but no one has been charged.

James Ashton, the brother of the deceased woman vented to SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday August 28, 2024, claiming that family members and some residents of the close-knit community of the East Kingstown area, are confident that evidence points to one person being the culprit.

He said if the person who is suspected is not the person who killed his sister, that can easily be proven as several pieces of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) evidence were collected by police investigators, at the crime scene and from the suspects, but to his knowledge the evidence is sitting in a room somewhere at the Central Police Station in Kingstown.

Outlining further, Ashton said police officers who visited the scene found bloody clothing downstairs the house where his sister was killed, and one investigator told the family it looked as if the killer had changed clothes and that he/she was probably injured.

He said also that there was a continuous drip of blood and footsteps moving away from his sister’s body which also speaks to the killer having sustained injuries during the brutal attack.

“Phyllis nails were broken out her skin…she fought for her life. There was a toss-up in the room, the room was trashed, her fingernails were broken out and everything…the bed was break in two, the cupboard that was made out of oak was pushed to the side like she was trying to get away from the person because there was a lot of blood behind it,” he related.

“Her underwear was burst off…I guess the person tried to rape her but didn’t get through,” Ashton told SEARCHLIGHT.

He also spoke about an individual having had serious injuries and a chop wound on the leg who said he fell from a tree. Ashton said the tree belonged to a family in the area who said they saw the person coming from under the tree but did not see him fall. He was treated at the hospital.

“For me the police have overlooked the fact of the hospital.

“No time during the investigation have they mentioned going to the hospital and speaking with the nurse or the doctor who did the stitches. They didn’t find out how many stitches it took.

“They didn’t ask the doctor or nurse their medical professional opinion on how those bruises came about the person skin especially the wound on his leg.”

Ashton said the autopsy stated that his sister died from multiple chops wounds and she was also stabbed.

“…and one of the stabs caught her lungs but they said even if the stab didn’t catch her lungs, one of the chops that she got on the top of her head actually came down in the middle, so he say she get chop deep in the top of she head, burst her skull everything.”

Ashton said a few months ago, investigators told him they were trying to send DNA samples to a lab in Jamaica but that has not been done.

He said family members reached out to the DNA mechanism in Jamaica and were told that the system never received any samples in relation to Knights.

“I called back the police officer and he said he going check on the DNA samples and then he told me the stuff was never sent out because of funds.

“Isn’t this the same reason why there are so many unsolved murders here?

“We were curious about paying for it but they said civilians can’t pay because it is not a civil matter. To this day, no update,” he related.

“How do we know that the DNA evidence is being stored properly after all this time?

“This is looking like we will never get closure,” Ashton lamented.

He added, “This thing took a big toll on my mom, my brother, having no closure. Every day my mom posts up my sister’s name on Facebook. She hasn’t given up, the lack of closure- she can’t heal properly without that.

“And the fact that we are 99 per cent sure of the person who did it and that person walking around St Vincent normal,” the bereaved man said.

There is a reward, EC$10,000, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of Knights.

The Police were not open to commenting on the case but one investigator did offer that the investigation is ongoing.