Following the deaths of five persons in a two-hour period yesterday, investigators at the St Catherine North Police Division are awaiting a forensic analysis to determine the cause of death of three of the victims.

According to Deputy Superintendent Derrick Champagnie, the forensic analysis is required on the bodies of Norma Richards 65, Cynthia Johnson 63, and 10-year-old Jodex Fearon, a student of St Johns Primary School.

The police reported that about 12:30 a.m. yesterday, residents heard explosions and called the police, who, on arrival, found the house engulfed in flames. The fire brigade was summoned and a unit from the Spanish Town Fire Department extinguished the blaze. Following the cooling down of the two-apartment board structure, the charred bodies were found.

isolated incident

Several persons told The Sunday Gleaner that they were troubled by the suspected murder of the three persons, as in recent times, the area has been calm and they hoped this was an isolated incident.

The killing of the three persons followed the murder of two businessmen in Linstead, St Catherine on Friday, night. Police reports are that about 10:00 p.m., 37-year-old businessman Vernon Martin was sitting in a motor vehicle talking to Delroy Ormsby, 33, when four men approached and fired shots. Martin ran, but he was chased and fatally shot a short distance away. Ormsby was taken to hospital were he died while undergoing treatment.