The skeletal remains of a Black Bush Polder woman was on Friday morning dug up from a grave at the back of her yard at Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder, Berbice.
The woman went missing since September last year and her husband kept telling his children that she had migrated to the US.
The woman Lilwantie Balack, also called “Darling”, 39, of Mibicuri North, Black
The grave in which the body was found
Bush Polder, Corentyne, was last seen on September 3, 2016, by her children.
At about 11:30h on Friday her remains were found in a four-foot grave situated about 120 meters behind the house.
Her 21-year-old daughter, Dharshni Davi Balack, said her father gave conflicting reports about the whereabouts of her mother. She related to the media that her father told herself and siblings that their mother migrated to the US and when other relatives asked him about her, he told them a different version.
Suspicion grew as no phone calls were received from Lilwantie and her husband; Sunildat Balack, also called “Red Man”, 43, took a 21-year-old woman to live with him. The three Balack children soon discovered that their new stepmother was wearing their mother’s wedding band.
On Thursday morning, Major Crime Unit and investigators from B Division went to the grave, which was identified by the suspect. Government Pathologist Dr
Dead: Lilwantie Balack
Vivekanand Bridgemohan was also present.
Investigators dug for about two hours then found bones and another two hours of digging were able to get the entire skeleton.
Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner Ian Amsterdam said they will have to conduct a DNA to confirm the woman’s identity.
Meanwhile, Police who arrested the suspect on Tuesday were also initially told that the woman had migrated. However local immigration records confirmed that she did not leave the country. Investigators then pressured the suspect who crumbled and confessed.
Guyana Times understands that that on September 6, 2016, the man and his wife had an argument over her wanting to go to the USA. This newspaper as told that the argument escalated after the man refused to allow his wife to go on vacation.
The man told investigators that he coked his wife, who passed out and fell to the ground. He said that after she passed out he became scared and dug a hole in the back yard and buried her.
At the time of the incident, the Balacks’s had a 17-year-old daughter living with
Investigators exiting the crime scene
them. However at the time of the incident she was not at home and when she returned she was told that her mother had left home for the USA.
The dead woman’s daughter, Dharshni Balack told the media that after sometime they attempted to get the Police involved in the matter but were threatened by her father’s relatives.
She said from the first day she was told that her mother had migrated there was the suspicion that something was amiss. She said the fact that her mother’s clothes were intact suggested that she did not go anywhere.
Her brother Khemraj Balack tried to hold back the tears as he watched his mother’s remains being placed in containers by Police. The young man expressed no sympathy for his father and said whatever happens to him he deserves. “Let him feel how me Mummy feel…,” he said as tears bubbled in his eyes.
Residents in the community describe the late Balack as a peaceful farmer, who never spoke much. They said in recent months the suspect had become obnoxious and had been consuming more alcohol that he was previously known to consume.
Reports also indicate that since the disappearance of the woman, the suspect had never gone into his farm alone and would pay a neighbour to accompany him. The body was discovered buried in the said farm.
The father of the now dead woman Chattergoon Budram was also on the scene on Friday.
Gowmatie Edwards, who lives next door said that she was also told that the woman was overseas.
Residents in the community describe the woman as a peaceful farmer who never spoke much. They say in recent months the suspect started to drink regularly.
