Less than a week after she was reported missing by relatives, 83-year-old pensioner Stephanie Millington was found yesterday buried in a shallow grave behind her Morvant home. While Crime Scene investigators were excavating the site at Geranium Avenue, Coconut Drive, Morvant, up to late yesterday, homicide detectives were interrogating two of Millington’s relatives—a man and a woman—who have been identified as suspects in her murder.
According to police reports, last Wednesday evening the suspects went to the Morvant Police Station to report Millington missing. They reportedly told police she had left home earlier that morning to go to Port-of-Spain to pay bills. They claimed that Millington normally would take a couple hours to complete her monthly errands and they became worried when she did not return home that afternoon.
As police began their investigation, Millington’s other relatives appeared on CNC3’s Crime Watch programme last week to make a public appeal for information on Millington’s disappearance and for host Ian Alleyne to assist them in finding her.
Police from the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF), led by Insp Roger Alexander and Sgt Sunil Bharath, intensified their investigation over the weekend after they realised there were inconsistencies in the relatives’ account of how Millington disappeared and the information they received from neighbours and informants.
Police said when they returned to the house around midday yesterday, they met the suspects, who are both in their 30s. Police detained the couple after they noticed a strong scent of disinfectant throughout the house and found a freshly tilled heap of soil in the backyard. When police agitated the heap of soil they discovered the pensioner’s body. The couple were then detained and remained in police custody up to last night.
Investigators believe Millington’s murder may have been triggered by a dispute with the suspects over her property. The police also believe she was killed within the past two days as her body was in a primary state of decomposition and did not emit a strong enough scent which would have normally attracted neighbours’ suspicion.
Police said they would wait on the results of an autopsy, which is scheduled for this morning at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, to determine the cause of Millington’s death. Investigations are continuing.
