Central High boy found dead had big dreams of becoming mechanic

The stepmother of murdered 17-year-old student Jason Whyte Jr is still in disbelief that the Central High schoolboy won’t push open the door to their home in Effortville, Clarendon.

Residents of Sevens Heights, also in the central Jamaica parish, stumbled on the decomposing bodies of Whyte, an 11th-grader, and 19-year-old Lindon Brown in bushes about 2:35 p.m. on Friday.

“God, even though them say a him, make mi see him a walk a come. Mi still can’t believe say a MJ,” said the teen’s stepmother, who gave her name only as Marsha, as she broke down in tears.

The family said Jason, who was nicknamed ‘MJ’, returned home from school Wednesday afternoon, then left to visit a relative in a neighbouring community. The family became suspicious when he reportedly left the relative’s house but did not return home in Effortville.

Marsha told The Gleaner that Jason had been staying with an aunt metres from their home when he went missing. She said the aunt informed her and Jason’s father on Friday that the schoolboy had not been seen for two days and that a missing person report had been filed at the May Pen Police Station.

Efforts to get confirmation from the station of that report were unsuccessful.

“We did not know he was missing until Friday morning. We were on our way to the river when the young man from down his aunt’s house was asking us if we heard that MJ is missing,” said Marsha.

Marsha is still perplexed about the circumstances that led to Jason’s disappearance. The teenager had reportedly gone to visit a stepbrother in the community of Bucknor.

But her enquiries caused her to again run into a brick wall, as her son reported that the boy had departed the community Wednesday evening.

“When I heard that MJ was missing, I said, ‘Jesus! God!’ because he’s not that type of person to go out and not come back in. So when I heard he was missing, a lot of bells started going off in my head,” the stepmom said.

“The Saturday morning when them say one of the bodies is him, I say, ‘Please, God, don’t let it be true.’ Just make me see him walk in and say, ‘Miss Marsha, weh you want fi drink?’ “

Jason reportedly harboured dreams of becoming an automechanic and had been busy undertaking several projects to complete his school-based assessments in preparation for Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations in May and June.

Marsha said he had been honing his skills at a tender age at a nearby garage with his father, who is a mechanic.

Jason Whyte Sr is finding it hard to accept his son’s death, the stepmother said.

“He and his father had a good relationship. His father treat him like he’s a brother. [His father] has withdrawn himself. He’s barely eating. He’s taking it really hard,” Marsha disclosed.

Whyte Sr, who declined to speak with the news team, was a portrait of dejection and despair at the family home on Sunday. Jason Jr was the oldest of his four children.

While admitting that Jason became distressed after his mother’s death three years ago, Marsha said that he had never felt unloved. She stated that she and the teen shared a good bond, and that he was helpful, kind, and got along well with community folk.

“Fi a young person like him die and every old people can come to mi and say, ‘Really, Miss Marsha? Really, MJ? If MJ see we on the road, MJ a hold we hand and laugh wid we.’ It hard. It really hard,” she cried.

Anyone with information on the murders is being asked to contact the May Pen police at 876-986-2208.

Up to March 29 this year, 11 people were killed in Clarendon.

That represents a 56 per cent decline when compared to 25 murders for the corresponding period in 2021.

olivia.brown@gleanerjm.com