Police Open Murder Cold Cases; placing posters in Grand Turk markets

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, December 21, 2022 – Fifteen days shy of the one year anniversary of her death, the Royal TCI Police have renewed calls for information in the Denise Buck murder case along with three other unsolved murders going as far back as 2019.

The cases include that of Lloydel Swann Jr; Dale Taylor Jr and Herbert Skippings.

Swann, fondly called LJ by his loved ones, was shot in April of 2019.   LJ turned up at the Cockburn Town Medical Centre with the head injury and was swiftly transferred to Provo and then Jamaica for treatment but could not be saved.  The police had arrested three men in connection with the murder but nothing ever came of it.

Dale Taylor Jr was found by the side of the road on August 6th 2020, near a bar in the West Road District and was pronounced dead on the spot.  The 15th murder of the year, Taylor’s death had marked the highest murder tally the island had ever seen.  That of course is now eclipsed by 2022.

Denise Buck was killed by an intruder whom she had heard breaking into her home on January 3rd 2022.  The woman had phoned for help but police did not arrive in time to save her life.   A promised internal review of the time they took to reach her is still pending.

No press release regarding Herbert Skippings’ murder was ever shared with Magnetic Media by the Police, the only murder alert was of an unnamed man found in Back Salina on May 9th where police informed an investigation would be opened.

The posters were left at local supermarkets in Grand Turk requesting information.

Residents have expressed concern that it took between 8-months and 3 years to begin pressing the Grand Turk Community for information in these killings.