RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

The burnt body dis­cov­ered near a pineap­ple field in Bar­rack­pore on Sat­ur­day, is be­lieved to be that of miss­ing Venezue­lan na­tion­al Wilmer Jose Mar­quez.

Al­though the body was un­recog­nis­able, an un­burnt black Puma shoe on the right foot bore a strik­ing re­sem­blance to the one Mar­quez was wear­ing when he dis­ap­peared.

Con­tact­ed for com­ment yes­ter­day, rel­a­tive Beat­riz Mar­quez said Mar­quez was last seen on Tues­day. She said he worked in Gulf City and had chil­dren back in Venezuela.

Mar­quez had been liv­ing in T&T for the past six years and Beat­riz said he had no en­e­mies. How­ev­er, she said, there has been no pos­i­tive iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, not­ing that they would be meet­ing with the po­lice to­day.

The charred body was found by a Bar­rack­pore cat­tle farmer on Sat­ur­day around mid­day. Ini­tial­ly think­ing a flock of cor­beau was feast­ing on a dead cow, the farmer was shocked to find the birds pick­ing at a se­mi-de­com­posed hu­man body.

The farmer im­me­di­ate­ly re­port­ed the dis­cov­ery to the Bar­rack­pore Po­lice Sta­tion. A team of of­fi­cers, led by Se­nior Su­per­in­ten­dent Sood­een, quick­ly ar­rived at the scene and se­cured the area.

The re­mains were found near a pineap­ple field off Dig­i­ty Trace, Pe­nal. Po­lice are ap­peal­ing to the pub­lic to as­sist them in solv­ing the bru­tal mur­der.