Philipsburg:--- The two suspects police now have in custody for the gruesome murders of Michael and Thelma King are cousins. Meyshane Kemar Johnson (28), a Jamaican security guard who was residing on the island illegally was arrested on September 23rd at a friend's house in Cape Bay. On Monday afternoon, police also arrested Jeremiah Chevon Mills born on October 24th, 1994 on the island of St. Maarten.
Mills is the son of Veronica Young, a Jamaican national who naturalized and obtained the Dutch nationality. Her son Jeremiah Chevon Mills is also a Dutch national. The public prosecutor in a press release Monday evening said that police arrested a second murder suspect, J.C.M. in the Cole Bay area on Monday afternoon. However, they did not mention the nationality of the 17 year old they arrested, neither did they mention that a house search was conducted at the home of Veronica Young.
On September 29th, 2012, Veronica Young gave SMN News an exclusive interview where she accused police of holding the wrong person for the murders of the Kings. Young further stated that she was believes that her nephew Meyshane Kemar Johnson committed the robbery at the Happy Star Chinese Restaurant on September 19th, 2012, but she could not understand how police managed to pin two murders on her nephew. She also mentioned that her son (Jeremiah Chevon Mills) was on probation and police had surrounded her house several times in search of her nephew. She said that she informed her son that the police was also looking for him. During the interview, Young also said that she does not harbor criminals yet she indicated that Johnson went to her the evening of the robbery and told her that police had fired shots at the car he was driving. She said he also told her that he paid the owner of the car $300 to repair the vehicle. Young further explained that her nephew is the one who removed the bullet from the vehicle that belonged to one of his friends whose father owns car rental company in Cole Bay.
Information on Jeremiah Chevon Mills.
Jeremiah Chevon Mills (17) was a student of the St. Maarten Academy (Academic) section for about two years. He was later transferred to the PSVE (Vocational Section) when his grades began dropping in the Academic section of the school. In October 2011, the management team of the St. Maarten Academy expelled Mills from the learning institution when he beat another student with a baseball bat. SMN News has been reliably informed that from the time Mills was expelled from school he turned his attention to crime. He was convicted sometime in June 2012 for an armed robbery that he committed at Global Wealth Trade located in the Yogesh Building. Mills was sentenced to 18 months in prison, 15 of which were suspended. Mills spent three months behind bars and he was recently released from prison. At the time of his arrest he was on three-years probation. SMN News also learnt that Veronica Young hired Attorney at Law Shaira Bommel, the same lawyer that represented him in the armed robbery case earlier this year, to represent her son in this murder case.
On September 29th, Meyshane Kemar Johnson was arraigned before the judge of instruction who prolonged his pre-trial detention to Wednesday October 3rd, 2012. Jeremiah Chevron Mills will have to appear before the judge of instruction on Thursday October 4th, 2012.
Killings Seems to be a Hit and not Robbery.
SMN News learnt that the persons or persons that killed Michael and Thelma King were paid to do so since the two business entrepreneurs do not walk with monies and they had just closed a business deal with a local businessman on St. Maarten. Sources close to the investigation say that police did not properly analyze the modus operandi (MO) of the killings and while they may have the right suspects behind bars there are others that may have gotten away with murder. The sources further explained that while police have described the crime scene as brutal, the killers almost cut off the head of Thelma King. "The persons that attacked the Kings did not go there to rob, they went to kill. They tied Thelma King to a chair and slashed her neck from one end to the other. Michael on the other hand received several stab wounds about his belly." Attorney General of St. Maarten Taco Stein told SMN News early last week that the Kings died of severe blood loss. Stein said that he obtained that information from the pathologists that conducted the autopsies on the two victims. The Attorney General and Chief Prosecutor have refused to divulge the time of death of the victims claiming that it will jeopardize their investigation. However, friends of the Kings said they last heard from them the Tuesday before their bodies were found in their Cupe Coy condominium.
Press Statement from Public Prosecuter's Office Concerning Second Arrest in Cupe Coy Murder Case
Police arrested a second suspect in the Cupecoy case around 3:45pm on Monday. After an intensive search last weekend and today (Monday), police managed to track down 17 year old J.C.M. and arrested him on the street in the Cole Bay area.
J.C.M. was considered a suspect since last week. Further arrests cannot be excluded.
The other suspect in this case, 28 year old M.K.J., will be led before the judge of instruction on Wednesday October 3rd 2012, where the prosecution will ask the judge to order the suspect's pre-trial detention.
