Philipsburg:--- The three suspects that were arrested in September 2012 for the brutal murders of Michael and Thelma King will be taken before the court for trial sometime in January 2013 confirmed Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos on Monday.
Mos said court sessions for this year close on December 12th and the file on the investigation is somewhat big, it is quite unlikely that the prosecution will finish the dossier before that date. The island's Chief Prosecutor also indicated that the police investigated all scenarios surrounding the case and they have concluded that the three suspects in custody are the only ones responsible for the murder of the Kings. Mos said so far police believe that the motive for the killing which took place before September 21st (when the bodies were found) was robbery. When asked by SMN News if the Kings were killed the day the bodies were found or if there are indications based on the preliminary autopsy report that the Kings were murdered before, Mos said that the Kings were killed before September 21st. The island's Chief Prosecutor did not give a timeline in which the murders took place but sources close to the investigation say that the Kings were slaughtered on September 19th, 2012, the same night the Happy Star Chinese Restaurant was robbed.
According to Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos, one of the suspects (Meyshane Kemar Johnson) confessed to being involved in the murder of the Kings while the other two suspects admitted to being at the scene of the crime when the brutal murders took place. Mos did not divulge much details on the ongoing investigation as he said he is not the one handling the investigation.
On September 23rd, 2012, police arrested Jamaican national Meyshane Kemar Johnson after they shot at a vehicle Johnson was driving which was used in the armed robbery at the Happy Star Chinese Restaurant on September 19th 2012. On Friday September 21st, 2012, the bodies of Micheal and Thelma King were found in their Cupe Coy condominium with several stab wounds, both victims were tied up when they were attacked and killed. According to information provided to SMN News, police found in the car that was used by Johnson a cellphone belonging to the Kings and their credit cards, thus leading them to Johnson when the two American investors bodies were found.
Shortly after, police arrested Johnson's first cousin Jeremiah Chevon Mills (17) as the second suspect in the armed robbery and double homicide. Mills was born on St. Maarten to a Jamaican national who is now a naturalized Dutch citizen. The third suspect Guyanese national Jamal Jefferson Woolford (20) was arrested by the FBI in St. Thomas two weeks after the killing. Woolford fled from St. Maarten when news broke in the media that Johnson had confessed to being involved in the brutal murder of the Kings. Mills and Woolford were close friends that lived in the Cape Bay area and they both attended the St. Maarten Academy (PSVE). Mills was expelled from the school when he beat another student with baseball bat, he was also convicted for the armed robbery of the Global Wealth Trade Store located in the Yogesh Building while Woolford was an employee of Eagle Tours which is located at the Bobby's Marina.
Mos said on Monday that the prosecution already got indication from one of the attorney's representing one of the three suspects that (he/she) would not be on the island when the case is taken to court for the first time. Therefore, the case will be postponed when it is taken to court in January 2013.
