Man arrested after a couple from Winnipeg found dead in Jamaica
WINNIPEG — Police in Jamaica say they have made an arrest in the deaths of a husband and wife from Winnipeg a month ago.
Melbourne Flake, 81, and 70-year-old Etta Flake were found dead in their Saint Thomas, Jamaica, vacation home on Jan. 9.
Their daughter, Debbie Olfert, said she and her four siblings are happy a man is in custody, but she added that he is only a suspect.
Olfert had previously said that her mother was suffocated and her father was beaten in an apparent botched robbery.
Their funeral will be held today in Winnipeg.
The Flakes had lived in Winnipeg for 53 years after immigrating to Canada.
Melbourne Flake worked for 38 years as a carpenter for the Department of National Defence. Etta Flake was a retired nurse.
Olfert faced several challenges bringing her parents’ bodies home from Jamaica.
She had to wait for a signature from the coroner’s office to release the bodies. She also had to work to expedite their death certificates — which she said usually aren’t issued for up to a year or more in the Caribbean country.
Another challenge was the cost — $13,000 plus airfare — to transport the bodies to Winnipeg.
Her mother’s body arrived on Wednesday and her father’s remains on Thursday.
Olfert said her grief is renewed as each of her out-of-town siblings arrives in Winnipeg for the funeral.
“I find myself sharing their pain because they are just, for the first time, coming into a place where their parents were. Where they lived. Where they worked. And it becomes more real.”
She said it does help that someone is in custody.
“In any family who’s gone through this, to have that person floating around, laughing it up, enjoying life while the families are still suffering is injury upon injury.”
Police are not releasing the man’s name pending further investigation.