Cops link St Elizabeth murder to St Ann suicide

MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Detectives in three parishes are following a sequence of events linking the murder of 40-year-old Kedecia McLeod in Pepper, St Elizabeth, to the suspected suicide of 50-year-old Maurice Fennell following what a relative of the man described as a “tumultuous” relationship.

A senior police source in Manchester said Fennell, a licensed firearm holder, was listed as a suspect in the abduction of McLeod, a pharmacy technician, after she was last seen entering a vehicle in Mandeville Tuesday afternoon.

“We were investigating a case of a missing person being abducted. He [Fennell] was the suspect in the matter. We were able to find out which vehicle she was taken into, and we did some other investigation and found out who the owner of the vehicle is and identified him as a suspect,” the source told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday.

Initial reports said Fennell was a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), but commanding officer for the St Ann Police Division Senior Superintendent Carlos Russell later clarified that Fennell was not a member of force and was instead employed as a loss prevention officer.

Detectives in St Ann theorise that Fennell shot himself with his licensed firearm on Thursday morning after he sent off texts about planning to harm himself.

An undated photo of 50-year-old Maurice Fennell. .

Police said Fennell was found dead with what appeared to be gunshot wounds after residents in Brown’s Town, St Ann, reported hearing loud explosions about 6:00 am.

“He had sent out several messages to most of his friends telling them that he was going to kill himself,” Russell told the Observer.

St Elizabeth police said shortly after 9:00 am a passer-by stumbled on McLeod’s body in a cul-de-sac.

Police said McLeod had what appeared to be a gunshot wound under her nose and missing teeth. Detectives theorise that McLeod, who also had a wound to her left thumb, may have held up her hand while being shot.

Up to the time of her disappearance, McLeod was employed as a technician at Caledonia Mall Pharmacy in Mandeville. The pharmacy shuttered its doors shortly before midday on Thursday as grieving staff were sent home.

McLeod also previously worked at the adjacent Gateway Pharmacy where its proprietor, Dane Thomas, described her as a dedicated worker.

Police on the scene in Pepper, St Elizabeth where the body of 40-year-old Kedecia McLeod was found on Thursday. (Photo: Kasey Williams)

“It is really sad to hear the news about Kedecia McLeod. [She] has worked with us at Gateway Pharmacy for [about] six years. She left us last August. She was a very good worker [and] somebody who I trusted. When we heard of her disappearance on Tuesday we did our best to get the word out, and to know that she is not here is really hard to take,” said Thomas who pledged to support McLeod’s family, including her 11-year-old daughter.

“A lot of patients came here and had a connection with Kedecia, and she was very good just because of how she was with customers and just trying to help everybody who came to the pharmacy. It is just sad to know that someone with such a good heart who cared about people was taken away from us like this,” he added.

A cousin of Fennell told the Observer that he became aware of a stormy relationship between McLeod and his relative close to a year ago, but in recent times received word of it worsening.

“He [Fennell] last spoke to me on Saturday, but just before that he was complaining that the relationship between them was becoming tumultuous. I can’t believe he really did this,” the relative said.

“Ever since he met her he started to come to Mandeville very often…When I saw the news of her being missing I tried calling him and the phone constantly went to voicemail,” added the relative.