Police awaiting autopsy report after blind senior citizen found dead in bushes
CHRISTIANA, Manchester — Police are awaiting the outcome of an autopsy to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of visually impaired 74-year-old Clifton Chambers whose decomposed body was found in bushes close to his home in Silent Hill near here last Tuesday.
A police source said Chambers, who was reported missing two weeks ago, was found with a wound to his face.
A report from the police’s Corporate Communications Unit said about 5:45 pm residents found Chambers’ body and alerted the police. However, residents say his body was found shortly after midday.
A relative of Chambers told the Jamaica Observer that the senior citizen was last seen at a shop in Silent Hill on September 16 when he got into an altercation and is said to have been punched in his face.
“His nephew went to his house the following day and saw the place locked up, and that is when it was announced that he was missing. We alerted the police and distributed photos of him to circulate. We had been searching since then until yesterday [Tuesday] people saw these crows hovering around a spot in bushes,” the relative said.
A police source said detectives had taken men from the community into custody for questioning in relation to Chambers’ death, but they were released pending the outcome of the autopsy.
Proprietors of Lyn’s Funeral Home in Mandeville, Calvin and Sylvia Lyn who are related to Chambers, have been plunged into mourning following his death.
“He is 90 per cent blind. I am trying to be courageous. My wife [Chambers’ sister] will cry periodically. We are just supporting each other and we have been getting a lot of calls from friends and relatives…. We are coping under this situation. He was well known in the community; he is no stranger. I believe that [if] anybody had anything to do with his death, they themselves would have benefited from his kindness,” Calvin Lyn said.
“I was told that there was a crowd who went to retrieve his remains in the advanced state of decomposition, for it was about 13 days [since he head been missing],” Lyn added.
Lyn, who is also the president of the Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers and Funeral Directors (JACE), is the Government’s contractor for the removal and storage of bodies in Manchester.
“We are the contractors for the Ministry of National Security so his [Chamber’s] remains are in our custody,” said Lyn.