Five Cays Woman Brutally Executed in Retribution Attack

Deandrea Hamilton | Editor

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos – The assassination of 52-year-old Marilyn Simmons has shaken the Turks and Caicos Islands to the core — not only for its brazenness, but for its calculated cruelty.

Police and community sources say Simmons, a mature, hard-working resident originally from Salt Cay, was targeted in a bitter dispute she did not start.  Yet, in an act of chilling vengeance, young men allegedly decided her life was the price to pay for someone else’s quarrel.

Around 9:28 a.m. Sunday, Simmons was found dead on Reece Street in Five Cays.  Multiple gunshot wounds, including a fatal shot to the head, point to a deliberate and cold-blooded execution.  Investigators believe her killing was intended as retribution — a message delivered in bullets, with no regard for her innocence or humanity.                                                                                                                                 “This was a sadistic act,” one community advocate said.  “To hunt down and kill a woman in her fifties over a beef she had no part in… it speaks to a frightening moral collapse.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The murder comes as police intensify operations in violence-stricken areas, including Blue Hills, where overnight curfews and early closures for liquor-serving businesses are in effect.  Despite these measures, Simmons’ death marks the 25th murder in 2025, placing the TCI’s per-capita homicide rate among the highest in the world.

The brazenness of this killing — striking down a respected citizen in broad daylight — highlights a disturbing evolution in violent crime on the islands.  These are not random bursts of anger, but targeted, planned attacks, carried out with an apparent thirst for blood and a chilling disregard for community outrage.

Residents are left fearful, frustrated, and demanding answers: How did retribution killings become an acceptable currency among the young and angry? And what must be done to end this cycle before it claims more innocent lives?

Marilyn Simmons is the country’s 25th homicide for 2025.