WESTERN BUREAU:

THE KILLERS of missing Montego Bay couple, Thomas and Marjoke Chambers, had attempted a 'seaside burial' before fishermen stumbled across their badly decomposed bodies at the Flamingo Beach in Wiltshire, Trelawny, yesterday morning.

The couple, who went missing from their Spot Valley, St James, home on June 12, were found fully clothed under shrubs on the beach. Thomas Chambers' hands were bound behind his back, while his wife Marjoke lay on her back.

The contents of her handbag, including identification cards, were scattered near her.

Badly decomposed

Initial investigations suggest that Mrs Chambers died from a knife wound to the neck, while her husband seemed to have been hit on the head with a stone found at the scene.

"This morning about 10:30, three fishermen passed by a house where I was standing and told me that there is a dead lady on the seaside," said one of the first men on the scene.

"I went and looked and I saw the lady and I asked a gentleman to call the police."

He said he was not aware that her husband's body was a few chains away, Mrs Chambers' body was badly decomposed, with her left leg severely emaciated.

Car scrapped in town

Residents in the area said they had been "smelling something" for over a week but, "because we have always had an inferior scent around here, we felt it was nothing".

The discovery comes days after the couple's car was recovered in the Drewsland area of Kingston.

The Gleaner understands that the vehicle - a red Nissan Expert - was in the process of being scrapped by persons when police on patrol made the discovery.

"Two men are in custody in relation to the scrapping of the vehicle. There is no immediate evidence that they are linked to the disappearance of the couple, but they are being further questioned," a highly placed police source had told The Gleaner at the time.

A detailed forensic examination was also being conducted on the vehicle.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com