The three Jamaicans who were found knifed to death on Friday in Queens, New York City, United States, were dead for at least three days before their bodies were discovered.
Relatives identified the dead as Karleen Barnett, 55, her 35-year-old son Dervon Brightly, and Varshana ‘Brittany’ Malcolm, a family friend.
Malcolm, 22, was visiting from Jamaica.
Media reports said Malcolm’s body was found with her hands bound together, and tape over her mouth. She was also stabbed to death upstairs in the house owned by Barnett, which is located in South Jamaica, Queens.
“She’s a family friend from Jamaica, just visiting,” said one of Barnett’s nephews during an interview with New York Daily News.
Barnett and Brightly are also of Jamaican heritage.
The report said that a man who lived at the house made the grisly discovery, and alerted the police. He was initially detained after questioning, but later released. Reports said he was Barnett’s son.
While processing that scene, police investigators discovered a basement door locked on Friday, and busted it open.
Inside the basement, they found Barnett with a head wound and multiple stab wounds to her back, the report stated.
Her son, Brightly, also had “blunt force trauma to the head” and stab wounds.
Neighbours said they had smelt an odour coming from the house, but never imagined that their three neighbours would have been murdered.
There have been no further arrests made in the triple killings as of Sunday.
However, speculation is rife on social media that a man connected to Barnett carried out the killings.
There are unconfirmed reports, too, that the killer sent photographs of Malcolm’s body to her family in Jamaica.
