Grief and pain in west Kingston - Birthday boy’s body among four found in Tivoli

Junior Ricardo Riley would have celebrated his 30th birthday today. But instead of a party, his family members will be staging a candle light vigil along Bond Street in west Kingston where he lived.

Riley was among four men from Denham Town who went missing last Saturday. Their dismembered bodies were found by policemen on the ground of the old Public Works Department (PWD) in Tivoli Gardens yesterday.

"Is tomorrow [today] him would be 30, but no birthday party nah go keep. Mi have to go light candle on the street and anyone who want to walk with a bottle of liquor can do so," his mother told THE STAR yesterday.

Investigators also found the bodies which they believe to be of the other missing men -- Christopher 'Banga' Murray, 29, Georay 'Kwesi' Campbell, 23, and 19-year-old Fernando ' Chun Chun' Brown.

Police sources told THE STAR that a section of a premises appears to be an informal cemetery. The statement was made following the gruesome discovery of the bodies in two shallow graves.

Yesterday, as the horrific news emerged that one of the bodies was Murray's, some of his relatives fell to the ground and wept openly.

Meanwhile, Riley's mother said she has been camping out outside the gates of the building hoping that her son's remains would not be there. She, however, stated that her motherly instincts told her that she would not be receiving favourable news.

"Mi and him nuh live together and mi a tell yuh say Sunday morning when mi get the news say him missing, mi get running belly same time," she said, adding that he was last seen alive last Saturday.

In the meantime, a senior cop told the news team that Murray, Campbell and Brown were part of a group of five who attempted to steal a generator from a construction site. They were allegedly held by unknown assailants, who investigators believe may be behind the murders.

In the case of Brown, his grandmother, Berneto Higgins, told THE STAR that he left their home to purchase food at a nearby shop. She said she was later told that he had met up with a friend who he followed into Tivoli Gardens. Another relative stated that they knew that he was dead from Saturday, although his body was not located.

"Mi know di system guh so mi know him dead. People on the ground tell mi from Saturday that dem see when dem a take him weh, and dem beg dem not to kill him. Right now we just want him body fi bury," the relative said.