Skeletal remains found at Madewini: DNA tests confirm remains are those of missing cop

In a significant development in the three-year-old case of missing Police Constable Quincy Lewis, DNA tests have confirmed that the skeletal remains found in April at Madewini, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, are those of the missing constable.
Police Constable Quincy Lewis went missing on June 19, 2020, after having visited his home at La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara to uplift a few pieces of clothes with the intention of reporting for duty at the Agricola Police Outpost. His family became aware that he was missing when the owner of the car turned up at their home to collect the car he had borrowed.

The family later learnt that Lewis did not turn up for work, and several calls to his mobile phone went unanswered.
A few days later, Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance recordings showed that Lewis had crossed the Demerara Harbour Bridge, and had last been seen entering Greenfield Park, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
Months after his disappearance, Lewis’s mobile phone was found in the Timehri, EBD area with the screen cracked.
However, on April 19 of this year, detectives uncovered human skeletal remains believed to be those of Lewis buried in a shallow grave at the Madewini Sandpit area located on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
The forensic Pathologist determined that the remains are those of a male of African ancestry, aged between 21 and 40, with an estimated height ranging from 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches.
The discovery was made after intensive interrogation of two suspects, Shafeek Vernom, also known as “Profit”, 25, of Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and Jamel Van Lewis, 35, of Durban Street, Georgetown, who admitted that they had known about the disappearance of the constable. The suspects led the detectives to Madewini, where one of them identified the area where the constable’s corpse was buried.

During the interrogation, Police leant that Lewis had been lured to a house at Greenfield, EBD, where he had allegedly been shot dead. The home was later identified as that of a woman with whom he had been having an affair. After allegedly being shot by the woman’s husband, Lewis’s body had been transported to Madewini, where it was buried in a grave that had already been dug.
Following that confession and the discovery of the constable’s skeletal remains, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) issued a wanted bulletin for Thakurdyal Samaroo and his wife Youseef Zahid. Weeks after, the international criminal Police organisation INTERPOL issued Red Notices for these two Guyanese who are wanted in connection with the murder of Lewis.
Meanwhile, one week after the discovery, Vernom and Jamel were arraigned for the heinous crime, and have both been remanded to prison. They
have been charged jointly, along with 56-year-old Samaroo and his wife Youseef in absentia.
The sitting magistrate has also issued arrest warrants for the couple, who are suspected to be living in the US.

This couple reportedly fled the jurisdiction after paying the two suspects an undisclosed sum of money to kill the Police rank. Due to the state of the remains, positive identification was challenging without DNA testing, and as such, samples were collected from close relatives of Lewis and sent overseas for testing.
Upon completion of the testing process, the results unequivocally confirmed that the remains are indeed those of Constable Quincy Lewis.
After the confirmation on Wednesday, Guyana Times contacted Ms Charlene Jordon, the mother of the dead cop, who seemed traumatised by the news. The woman said she is beyond hurt to know that her son is indeed dead, and was dealt such a cruel death.
“This hurts…and the other thing is how I learned that the DNA confirmed that it was my son…the Police did call me, but someone saw it on the news and call me to tell me, and then they called me. After they publish it, that is when they called me to tell me that,” she explained.
“But I have to meet with the Inspector, because I have some questions to ask…”, the woman has said.
The DNA testing has brought closure to a painful chapter of the Lewis family’s search, but they say they are still hoping for justice to be served.