Sonia Beverley, overwhelmed with grief, collapsed after police informed her that her missing daughter, 32-year-old Lisa-gay Cobre, had been found buried in a shallow grave in Glengoffe, St Catherine. The grim discovery came after a 20-year-old man, whom Beverley had taken in as a child, reportedly confessed to the crime. Cobre had been missing for nine days before the suspect led the police to the site. The community is in shock, and Beverley had to seek medical attention as the tragedy unfolded.

Betrayed

Shock as 20-y-o ‘brother’ suspected of killing missing woman; body found

Jamaica Gleaner/9 Oct 2024/Andre Williams/staff Reporter 

SONIA BEVERLEY, the mother of four girls, desired a son so badly that she took a young boy into her Girls Town Lane home in Glengoffe, St Catherine, 10 years ago.

She was a shadow of herself on Tuesday when she received a call from investigators that the now20-year-old man had allegedly confessed to killing and burying one of her daughters, nine days after she was reported missing.

After the deceased woman, 32-year-old Lisa-gay ‘Babes’ Cobre, went missing on September 28, a notice was posted in the community, offering a $100,000 reward for her safe return.

The Gleaner understands that the prime suspect turned up at the Lawrence Tavern Police Station in St Andrew on Monday night and reportedly confessed to the heinous crime.

Dressed in full black and wearing handcuffs on Tuesday morning, the suspect led investigators to the spot where Cobre was reportedly buried in a shallow grave in the hilly community.

Following an exhumation exercise, a partially decomposed body believed to be Cobre’s was retrieved and taken to the morgue.

“A so di boy repay mi. Him kill mi daughter. A Sunday mi cook and di boy eat. Mi know something never right,” Beverley told The Gleaner.

A taxi operator, who said he took the suspect from Glengoffe to Lawrence Tavern, was surprised to learn that it could have been for such a reason that he went to the neighbouring district.

“Him did out here so with her (Beverley) and him nah talk. Him nuh business; him just deh ya so. Mi cousin talk and say him look suspicious. Him did suspect say a him,” A resident said.

Cobre had a speech impairment, residents said, noting that she was quiet and rarely left the community.

Her sister, Shakira, told The Gleaner the family felt betrayed since they embraced the suspect like a brother among Beverley’s daughters.

She said her sister was last seen alive during the day on Saturday, September 28.

“Mi mother leave the day go to town to buy some things for her stall. When she come back, she say she can’t find her daughter and she tell everybody in the community,” Shakira said.

She told The Gleaner that the suspect had shown no signs of behavioural change recently and recalled only one incident in which he allegedly burned a child.

“We never know him would do such a thing. When mi big sister daughter did smaller, him burn her up already and mi sister did have him a court. I think it was tea him throw on her … . He left the community and mi mother tek him back and tell mi sister [to] quash it out,” Shakira said.

As word of the grim find took to the wind, the security forces boosted their presence in the community to keep at bay angry residents who wanted to exact justice on the suspect. He was whisked away without injury following the excavation.

A distressed Beverley had to seek medical attention at a nearby clinic as it became all too overwhelming.

Glengoffe residents said the incident is a black eye for their community. They said the suspect worked as a butcher at a meat shop.

“This a the worst thing happen here from mi live here. This a curse pon the place … . The only other thing weh can match that is that the pastor – Kevin Smith – come from same place ‘round here. We nuh like that, man,” one man lamented.

A source close to the investigation told The Gleaner that the suspect told the police that he came forward due to persistent questioning from residents.

Senior Superintendent Hopton Nicholson, head of the St Catherine Northern Police Division, told The Gleaner that it appears that a dispute may have led to the killing. He is asking residents to find peaceful ways to settle differences.

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