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Homicides 2009





Here is a chronological log of the homicides recorded in 2009, with statistics broken down by island. The Source does not include suicides or vehicular homicides in its listing.



(1) STJ

(1) Territory

Date of death: Jan. 5

Juan Ayala, owner of Cap’s Place, a Cruz Bay bar, was found dead at his home in Pastory. He had been shot multiple times.

(1) STT

(2) Territory

Date of death: Jan. 16

The badly decomposed body of an unidentified woman was found in a cistern at an abandoned house on St. Thomas. The body had a gunshot wound to the head.

(1) STX

(3) Territory

Date of death: Jan. 23

George Ronald Simpson, 19, of Estate Strawberry, died from gunshots to the face and left side. George was found fatally wounded at La Reine Village Homes in Grove Place.

(2) STX

(4) Territory

Date of death: Jan. 26

Jean-Pierre Barone, 20 was shot and killed at about 8:45 p.m. in the vicinity of the Moravian Cemetery in Christiansted. Police suspect a dispute over illegal drug sales led to the murder.

Barone, originally from Canada, who lived in Estate Welcome, was shot multiple times while in the driver’s seat of a four-door Suzuki Aerio.

(2) STT

(5) Territory

Date of death: Jan. 31

Ray Petersen, 52, died in the hospital after being shot Jan. 30 at his home in the Kirwin Terrace housing community.

(3) STT

(6) Territory

Date of death: Feb. 8

Marvis Chamaro, 24, was found dead of gunshot wounds in a bushy area adjacent to the Mandahl Bay road after Jack Diehl was shot and killed. (See below)

(4) STT

(7) Territory

Date of death: Feb. 8

Jack Diehl, 52, was shot in the head and chest near his home in Estate Mandahl. He died at the hospital later in the afternoon. A police official said it appeared Diehl "was an innocent person that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He was investigating an incident in which it is believed Mavis Chamaro was killed. (See above)

(5) STT

(8) Territory

Date of death: Feb. 21

Charles Ham, 35, was shot and killed about 10:15 p.m. after getting out of his car near his Anna’s Retreat home.

(6) STT

(9) Territory

Date of death: Feb. 25

Gerald Pena, 25, was killed near the Double Play Bar and Restaurant on Lower Krondprindsens Gade around 1:28 a.m. Wednesday.

(7) STT

(10) Territory

Date of death: Feb 25

Daniel Antonio Gomez Ozuna, 26, was killed near the Double Play Bar and Restaurant on Lower Kronprindsens Gade around 1:28 a.m. Wednesday.

(8) STT

(11) Territory

Date of death: March 3

The body of Larry "Kenny" Thomas was found in a stairwell at the Tutu Highrise Apartments. The victim appeared to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

(9) STT

(12) Territory

Date of death: March 7

28-year-old Phillip John George was killed and two male victims were wounded in an apparent exchange of gunfire at 2:40 a.m. in front of the Lexus Adult Entertainment Nightclub in Estate Smith Bay.

(10) STT

(13) Territory

Date of death: March 11

Kahlif Leader, 16, died in shootings at Kirwan Terrace that resulted in another victim being hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds.

(3) STX

(14) Territory

Date of death: March 16

Steve Williams, 33, of Sion Farm, was gunned down in the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant in the vicinity of Golden Rock Shopping Center, police said. Three men were arrested and police seized several weapons.

(4) STX

(15) Territory

Date of Death: March 21

Kyone Bazil, 21, was exiting a taxi van near Frederiksted when he brandished a handgun and demanded money from the driver. The driver, whose name was withheld by police, gave Bazil cash, then shot and killed Bazil with his own licensed firearm.

(11) STT

(16) Territory

Date of Death: March 24

Jahmarie Joseph, 18, of Estate Nadir was found dead after an apparent drive-by shooting around 10 p.m. in the Bovoni neighborhood. He was shot several times, and apparently began to run and fell off a roof to the ground about 20 feet below, according to police.

(12) STT

(17) Territory

Date of Death: April 4

While fighting with his cousin, Ernest Oliver was killed after he fell and hit his head. His cousin, 24-year-old Claudius George, was arrested and charged with his death.

(13) STT

(18) Territory

Date of Death: April 5

Cedric Rouse, 39, was shot to death in the vicinity of the basketball court in Hospital Ground. Rouse has a long history of criminal activity, police said.

(5) STX

(19) Territory

Date of Death: April 6

Police responding the call of shots fired in the area of Tamarind Estates found the lifeless body of Ray W. Bryson at a home in Estate Humbug. Bryson had multiple stab wounds to the chest. Arrested for the murder was 17-year-old Dwayne K. Friday, otherwise known as "Money."

(14) STT

(20) Territory

Date of Death: April 9

Jonas Milford, 34, was shot at least once in the head after he and friend were robbed at gunpoint near Building 16 at Oswald Harris Court. He died three days later.

(6) STX

(21) Territory

Date of Death: April 26

Jonah Andrews, a 25-year-old native of St. Thomas, was shot to death about 8:45 p.m. in the John F. Kennedy housing community in Christiansted.

(7) STX

(22) Territory

Date of Death: May 6

The lifeless body of 45-year-old Alfred Hendricks was found lying on a dirt road in Estate Glynn. Police say Hendricks was shot at least once.

(15) STT

(23) Territory

Date of Death: May 9

Derique Williams, 21, of Estate Wintberg died after a fight in the area of Tutu Park Mall. Police charged Kareem Victorin, 22, of Estate Tutu with manslaughter in his death. Victorin told police he was detaining Williams in a choke hold pending the arrival of officers to the scene of the fight, according to police reports.

(16) STT

(24) Territory

Date of Death: May 17

A shooting in the area of Lakes Chicken Fry and the Lexus Night Club in Smith Bay left 45-year-old Errol Milliner dead and another man wounded. Milliner was found lying on the walkway to Lexus Night Club.

(8) STX

(25) Territory

Date of Death: May 25

Nefertiti O’Bryan, 28, suffered a fatal gunshot wound. Her boyfriend, 36-year-old Davenon Joseph, was found dead in a car about 1,000 feet from the home where O’Bryan was found.

Joseph had committed suicide.

(17) STT

(26) Territory

Date of Death: May 27

Francius Baly, 49, was killed in his Frydenhoj home by what police described as a lone gunman.

(9) STX

(27) Territory

Date of Death: May 29

George Cintron, 41, was shot once in the upper body by unknown assailants about 11:45 p.m. as he walked on the Estate Profit road.

(10) STX

(28) Territory

Date of Death: June 13

Stanislaus McIntosh, 43, of Estate Whim, was shot multiple times in the area of the Estate Campo Rico day care.

(18) STT

(29) Territory

Date of Death: June 14

Jamall Ashby, 20, was shot on his motorcycle while driving away with another man from a scene where the other man was robbed. Ashby’s body was found near the garbage bins in Building 5 of the Tutu High Rise. It appeared Ashby sustained at least one gunshot wound to the upper body before losing control of the motorcycle he was driving, police said.

(19) STT

(30) Territory

Date of Death: June 24

At 3 a.m. Wednesday police responded to a 911 call of a shooting victim on Kronprindsens Gade near Club 75. At the scene police saw an injured male in the street adjacent to the nightclub and Issachar Chinnery, 21, of St. Thomas, unresponsive in nearby Spence Alley. The wounded victim was transported to the Roy Lester Schneider Regional Medical Center for treatment. Chinnery was pronounced dead by medical personnel.

(20) STT

(31) Territory

Date of Death: June 24

Maurice Oliver, 62, died at Schneider Regional Medical Center three weeks after he was shot in the stomach by an unknown gunman in the parking lot of Tutu Park Mall.

(21) STT

(32) Territory

Date of Death: July 1

Kelroy Morrell, 23, of Estate Frydenhoj was found shot several times and unresponsive several hundred feet from his home in Frydenhoj.

(22) STT

(33) Territory

Date of Death: July 3

Officers responding to the Estate Frydenhoj area around 2 p.m. found the body of 23-year-old Jason Smith. Smith had been shot several times and was unresponsive.

(11) STX

(34) Territory

Date of death: July 21

Officers responded to the sound of shots fired at 10:45p.m. in the vicinity of the Frederiksted Vegetable Market. A private car had already begun driving the victim, 35-year-old O’Neal "Tulley" Mulley to the hospital. EMS personnel in an ambulance met the vehicle en route and began treatment while taking him to the hospital, but he was declared dead while in surgery.

(12) STX

(35) Territory

Date of death: July 26

The bullet-riddled body of 20-year-old Iver James Jr., a security guard at the Carambola Hotel, was found early in the morning about 200 yards from the hotel entrance. He was last seen by coworkers at his post about 1 a.m., police said.

(13) STX

(36) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 2

25-year-old Almonzo Williams of Estate Mon Bijou was shot and killed at approximately 1:30 a.m. in a parking lot across the street from Gertrude’s Restaurant on Hess Road. Williams and two other men were in a car when two other males approached and opened fire. All three men in the car were injured, and Williams died while being treaed at Juan F. Luis Hospital. The two suspects arrested after a car chase were a 16-year-old from Barren Spot and a 17-year-old from the JFK Housing Community, police said.

(14) STX

(37) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 4

Peter Desjardins was shot and killed at about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4, when two masked men appeared at the door of a restaurant in Estate Peter’s Rest. One of them fired two shots, striking Desjardin and then both fled the scene in a dark colored sport utility vehicle. Emergency medical personnel arriving at the scene were not able to get any vital signs from the victim, who was pronounced dead.

(23) STT

(38) Territory

Date of death: Aug. 5

St. Thomas native, Jahem Mahoney, 29, was declared dead at the Roy Lester Schneider Regional Medical Center after a shooting incident at shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday on Brookman Road, in the area of Dana Mart. Two other victims, both 22, received wounds.

According to witnesses, a dark colored sedan drove westhrough the area moments before the shots were fired. 911 dispatched officers to the scene. Police are investigating.

(24) STT

(39) Territory

Date of death: Aug. 9





Basheem Ford, 19, was found lying face down in the road near Market Square. He had been shot at least once in the upper body. Ford and his brother, Jermaine Parris, were awaiting trial on murder charges stemming from the 2007 shooting death of veteran police officer Ariel A. Frett.

(25) STT

(40) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 19

James Tomeau, 31, of Estate Wintberg, received several gunshot wounds to his back in a shooting that occurred just after midnight. Police spoke to a relative of the victim, who told them that she heard Tomeau yelling for help saying he was shot and that she should call the ambulance. Tomeau later died at Roy Lester Schneider Regional Hospital, according to medical personnel.



(26) STT

(41) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 22

Jesse A. Smalls, 31, was found shot to death at Coki Point Plaza in Estate Smith Bay. Police said he had been shot multiple times. Police did not say if there were any witnesses. The only business open in the area at the time was the Lexus Night Club, the scene of a shooting five months earlier

(27) STT

(42) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 22 (body discovered)

The body of Tameka Edwards, 19, was found on the doorstep of a Contant residence. Edwards, according to police, had been dead more than 24 hours. Two weeks later the medical examiner determined Edwards died of multiple gunshot wounds and the death was deemed a homicide.

(28) STT

(43) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 25

The body of 42-year-old Hawthorne Saunders Jr. discovered by police around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday. Saunders had been shot multiple times and was found lying on the kitchen floor of a guest house in Estate Contant on St. Thomas, according to the Police Department.

(15) STX

(44) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 27

Police responding to a report of shots being fired at about 2 p.m. Thursday in Estate Catherine’s Rest found the body of 18-year-old Anthony Minto Jr. Police say the victim was apparently outside the supermarket when he was approached by one or more individuals, who shot at him.

(16) STX

(45) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 28

Police responded to shots fired in the vicinity of the Elena Christian school; other officers followed a fast-moving vehicle to Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital. At the hospital, police discovered the shooting victim in the car, Marlin Roberts of Estate La Vallee, 24, along with two other persons. Roberts died of mulitple gunshot wounds.




(29) STT

(46) Territory

Date of Death: Aug. 30

The bullet-pierced body of an as yet unidentified woman was found face down on a sidewalk in the Paul M. Pearson Garden housing community.

(17) STX

(47) Territory

Date of Death: Sept. 1

The body of 20-year-old Titus Jaunai was discovered about 1 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, in the vicinity of Annaly Farms in Estate Upper Love. Police are investigating a connection between the attempted armed robbery that happened Monday Farms and Jaunai’s death.

(30) STT

(48) Territory

Date of Death: Sept. 20




Police officers called to an area near the Domino Gas Station in Estate Frydenhoj found 23-year-old Curtis Thomas, who appeared to have been shot more than once in his side and back. Thomas was taken to Schneider Regional Medical Center, where he later died.

(31) STT

(49) Territory

Date of death: Oct. 14

Dennis Richardson was found stabbed to death and a female companion was reportedly raped following a party on the beach at Mandahl Bay. Two men have been arrested and charged in the crime.

(32) STT

(50) Territory

Date of death: Oct. 31

Two men driving in the area of Garden Street and Nye Gade were killed early Saturday morning when one or more suspects opened fire on their vehicle. Police on St. Thomas say the double homicide occurred around 3:43 a.m., according to a police news release. The victims, who died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, are said to be in their early 20’s.

(33) STT

(51) Territory

Date of death: Oct. 31

Two men driving in the area of Garden Street and Nye Gade were killed early Saturday morning when one or more suspects opened fire on their vehicle. Police on St. Thomas say the double homicide occurred around 3:43 a.m., according to a police news release. The victims, who died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, are said to be in their early 20’s.

(34) STT

(52) Territory

Date of Death: Oct. 31

Orande Francis, 26, if Estate Anna’s Retreat, because the territory’s 52nd homicide victim of the year Saturday when he died of a gunshot wound at the Roy L. Schneider Regional Hospital. Police were informed at 9:20 p.m. Saturday that a male gun shot victim had been dropped off at the hospital. Francis was shot once in his upper abdomen and died from his injuries, according to the police.

(18) STX

(53) Territory

Date of Death: Nov. 2

The body of 23-year-old Isiah Joseph Philbert was found early Monday morning on the floor of his home in Estate Upper Love, the apparent victim of a gunshot. According to a release from the department, the police were alerted to the incident by 911 dispatchers at about 3:20 a.m. and responded to a private residence in Estate Upper Love where they found the victim on the floor with at least one gunshot wound to his body. The victim’s mother and another person told police they were in another room in the home at the time of the shooting. They told police they heard several gunshots but did not see who did the shooting.
Criminal Investigation Bureau detectives are investigating the death as a homicide.

(35) STT

(54) Territory

Date of Death: Dec. 24

A robbery suspect was shot by police Thursday night and later died of his wounds at Schneider Regional Medical Center. According to a police statement, at least two men attempted to rob the Radio Shack at Nisky Center, but police quickly arrived on the scene and surrounded the building. The suspects were able to escape but one — who police say was armed — was shot by police and died at the hospital. The officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave according to department regulations, pending the results of an internal investigation.

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