The Clarendon community remains in shock following the gruesome discovery of 19-year-old sales representative Derricka Rodgers, whose body was found in a cesspit in Milk River on Sunday. The police have since arrested two men and a woman in connection with her murder. Their identities have not been released as investigations continue.
According to reports, around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, officers received information about a property in Deeside, Clarendon. They searched the premises and discovered Derricka’s decomposing body inside a pit. The young woman, who was initially said to be 21, had been missing since Tuesday, May 27.
Her father, Derrick Rodgers, is now heartbroken. “My daughter was nice and loving, always smiling,” he told Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.
Derricka went to visit her boyfriend in Milk River on the day she was last seen alive. Her father said her boyfriend, who is also a married man, admitted to seeing her that day and claimed to have given her $30,000 before parting ways. Her family became increasingly concerned when Derricka did not return home and filed a missing persons report.
Rodgers said he alerted the police Wednesday night and urged them to take the boyfriend into custody for questioning. However, he was told there was no legal basis to detain the man. The boyfriend reportedly fled the island not long after Derricka went missing.
What followed was a desperate search by her loved ones, which led them to the Deeside property. On visiting the property, which was linked to the boyfriend, police and residents noticed a freshly sealed pit. According to the distressed father, officers initially told them that they would have to wait a day to open it despite getting
permission from the property’s owner. However, he and others insisted on immediate action. The father said he felt the presence of his child in the pit, and he was adamant that it had to be opened, threatening to set fire to a house on the property in retaliation if the officers waited.
The police eventually agreed to open the pit, and when the concrete was removed, Derricka’s body was reportedly found in a scandal bag. Additionally, her belongings, including her house key, TRN, and ID, were in a separate scandal bag in the pit.
Her uncle, Christopher Williams, is also devastated by the ordeal. Williams said he is still shaken and remains in disbelief that someone could do such a thing to his niece.
In response to the incident, Everel Morris, CEO of Net Merge and Derricka’s former employer, called for swifter justice and expressed that such senseless violence can be stopped through “maximum support” from political figures.
