Senior Reporter
rhondor.dowlat@guardian.co.tt
A body found in a shallow grave in Wallerfield yesterday afternoon is believed to be that of Maria Paul, 19, of Plantation Road, Valencia, who was reported missing on September 12.
During a search for her, around 2 pm members of the Hunters Search and Rescue Team led by Shamsudeen Ayube, found a personal item in the dirt at Babwah Avenue in Wallerfield.
The police were subsequently called in.
Officers of the Crime Scene Investigation Unit responded, a shallow grave was dug up, and Paul’s body was found.
Six days ago, an article of clothing belonging to Paul was found in a forested area in Valencia.
Paul’s mother, Ria Hosein Thompson, said she last spoke with her daughter via video call on September 11 around 11 pm.
Paul told her mother that she was going to meet her boyfriend of 18 months, a 41-year-old man at his job, after which they were going to lime.
On September 17, the man dropped Paul’s clothes at her parents’ home.
He said that he had not seen Paul since September 11.
Later that day, he called her parents and said that he did his own investigation and found out that she was “by a man in either Las Lomas or Brazil.”
Paul’s mother claimed that a month ago a man and a woman allegedly held Paul captive and beat her. The woman was alleged to be Aliyah Santo who was recently killed.
Paul managed to escape and ran to a relative’s house where a report was made at the Valencia Police Post.
According to reports, this was not the first time Paul went missing.
In 2020 and 2021, Paul reportedly ran away from home but later returned.
