The taxi operator, Brandon Mayne, who was swiftly named by police as a person of interest in the murder of a teacher and her daughter, has been found dead. On Friday afternoon, Mayne was discovered hanging from a tree in a yard in Tweedside, Clarendon, in what preliminary reports suggest is a suspected suicide.
Police say the body was found around 1:00 p.m., and early information indicates he had fled to the area on Wednesday, the day before the bodies of 29-year-old teacher Tara Pinnock and 14-year-old Tahlia Wright were discovered.
According to Senior Superintendent Hopton Nicholson, early findings suggest the attack may have grown out of a domestic dispute, though investigators are still piecing together the full story. He said the findings suggest that the perpetrator had access to the house, as they saw no signs of forced entry. Mayne is believed to be Miss Pinnock’s common law spouse, with whom she had lived.
While police continue their investigation, the tragedy has rippled sharply through the institutions where mother and daughter spent their days. At Bridgeport Primary School, where Pinnock taught Grade Five, Friday morning devotion was overshadowed by grief. The school shared that both students and teachers were grieving, causing the campus to feel unusually still. Pinnock’s daughter, Tahlia, was a student at McGrath High School.
Counselling teams from the Ministry of Education were deployed to support both staff and students. Senior Education Officer Stephanie Webb Parker explained that the emotional toll was heavy: “The school would have lost a teacher and her daughter in a very horrific manner, and so the teachers are grieving, the students are grieving, all the members of staff are significantly impacted by this tragedy.” She added that the incident has shaken not just the school communities but the wider nation.
In an effort to help children process their emotions, counsellors encouraged them to write or draw. Many used the opportunity to express anger at the person responsible, love for their teacher, and simple pleas for justice, including messages asking the police to “find the bad person.”
The Jamaica Teachers’ Association, through its president Mark Malabver, condemned the killings and called for a determined pursuit of justice. Malabver also pledged support for Pinnock’s relatives and colleagues as they navigate the difficult days ahead.