Police and RST solve
Tejada murder case
“Disappearance of drugs was motive” ~
PHILIPSBURG--Another murder in St. Maarten has been solved by police detectives working closely with Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST.
A.M. (32) of the Dominican Republic has been charged with the murder of Juan Tejada (47), also of the Dominican Republic.
Chief Prosecutor Johan de Vrieze said that at the heart of the investigation local authorities had learnt from the shooter that he had killed Tejada during a dispute over the disappearance of some drugs they were partners in trafficking.
As a result, A.M. has also been charged with trafficking in drugs.
Tejada’s killing was the fourth murder for this year. The total now stands at 13, ten of which have now been solved and several of which have already ended with the conviction of the killers.
Police spokesman Chief Inspector Humphrey “Boyd” Giterson told The Daily Herald on Wednesday that detectives had detained A.M. three weeks ago on suspicion that he had been involved in Tejada’s murder, but it was only yesterday, Wednesday, that the suspect allegedly confessed to pulling the trigger, firing the fatal bullet in St. Maarten’s fourth killing for 2006.
Before Tejada’s murder the RST had been conducting an investigation involving drug trafficking, with A.M. as the prime suspect. Once local police started investigating Tejada’s murder they learnt that the man being sought was also part of an RST drug probe. The two teams decided to work together in what De Vrieze called a “healthy relationship” that yielded positive fruits.
De Vrieze said the local police had arrested the suspect and his wife about three weeks ago and had found one kilo of cocaine in his house. He said the man had later confessed to his involvement in drug trafficking with Tejada and said he had shot the victim over a dispute about some drugs that had disappeared.
De Vrieze said the suspect’s wife was still being held. He said the two had lived in a very small house where she did the cleaning and it was unlikely that she had not known what her husband was doing. What role she played in the drug operation is still unclear to detectives, but will probably unfold as the investigation progresses.
Tejada’s killing occurred on Paramaribo Drive #4 in Dutch Quarter around 11:45am on March 19. Neighbours called police, suspecting something had gone wrong, after hearing the TV playing loud for a long while, but seeing no sign of Tejada.
When police arrived and entered the house they found the victim sitting in his chair with a single bullet in the back of his neck.
It seemed extremely difficult at best for police to come up with any clues that would help them identify Tejada’s killer, but Giterson said that with the hard work and combined efforts of the RST and local detectives the murder had been solved.
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