Wave of grief after three bodies found at St Ann home
Published:Tuesday | July 19, 2022 | 12:16 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
A cloud of mystery surrounds the discovery of three bodies at a family home in Free Hill, St Ann, as stunned relatives and a shocked community were plunged into mourning on Monday morning as investigators try to find motives and the perpetrator behind the shocking tragedy.
The bodies of Antria Rattray, 46, a cook employed at the St Ann Municipal Drop-in Centre in Ocho Rios; her 13-year-old son, Mykah Bonitto; and Lawrence Badall, 50, were discovered early Monday morning, reportedly with slit throats and other wounds.
Rattray’s other teenage son, who was said to be asleep in another room of the house, made the gruesome discovery after awaking in the morning.
The police are yet to give a detailed account of what investigators have uncovered so far, except to confirm the death of the three.
The lack of official information has led some residents to speculate that it could be a double murder-suicide. Others brushed aside that theory, pointing to the different types of wounds on the bodies.
Rattray’s cell phone and tablet were discovered shattered, also fuelling speculation that there may have been struggling or some form of altercation leading up to the tragedy.
“Only time will tell what really happen,” said an elderly lady with grief etched on her face. Her comment elicited a chorus of “yes” from others in the crowd.
Antonette Hudson, Rattray’s close friend for over a decade, said that she had assumed that her friend was busy when she dialled her phone minutes before 9 a.m. and got no response. She was stunned when she discovered the true reason.
“I don’t have words to express how I feel right now. It’s very heart-wrenching and it’s very traumatising,” Hudson told The Gleaner.
“Maybe last night was the only night we hadn’t spoken on the phone, but we call each other almost every night and sometimes early morning on our way to work. This morning I called her, to be exact, 8:41, and I did not get a reply from her so I just said maybe she was busy or on her way to work because sometimes her phone doesn’t really pick up [a signal]. So I said, as soon as she got the missed call, she would call me back. Then I got a call to say they heard that she passed and I dropped everything I was doing and came on the scene to actually see for myself if it was so.”
Jennifer Wilson-Campbell, Rattray’s aunt, told The Gleaner that the family is in the process of burying her brother, who died on July 3, and this tragedy has plunged them further into grief.
Wilson-Campbell, who lives in the nearby community of Lillyfield, said that it was a nephew living overseas who called and told her that he had heard of the deaths and asked her to visit the home to confirm the news.
“It’s hard. My niece was just like a daughter to me. I can’t really believe it,” she said.