Westmoreland police say Negril yoga instructor death probe still lacks motive

WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — Law enforcement officials in Westmoreland say they have still not pinned down a motive or recorded any major progress in their handling of the case involving a 79-year-old yoga teacher who died at her Negril residence on Tuesday.

The woman has been identified as Fanette Johnson, a Negril resident who led yoga sessions at multiple hotels around the resort area. A native of France who was married to a Jamaican, Johnson carried more than thirty years of experience in the discipline, with earlier teaching roles in Paris and New York.

Police reports show that persons living nearby came upon Johnson at the property shortly after 7:00 am and raised the alarm. When officers reached the scene, they found her on the floor inside one of the rooms, with marks on her neck consistent with bruising. Her remains were taken to the morgue, where a post-mortem examination is to be carried out to establish the cause of death.

A senior police source told Observer Online that, although the file has produced no breakthrough so far, "a lot of work has been put into the investigation around the death of the tourist resident who has been living in Jamaica for more than a decade".

"The investigation is kind of inconclusive by virtue of what we have seen at the location because there were no obvious signs of break in," the official said, noting that teams are pulling together their findings but must hold back on certain details while the matter remains at an early stage. "We are summarising some things but we cannot say certain things right now because the investigation is still young in relation to this."