The family of a Brooklyn-based Vincentian retiree murdered in her brother’s home after returning to her native land 40 days ago to attend the funeral of her mother is pleading with the authorities to quickly solve the case.
Antonia “Toni” Rose Carter was killed in the home of Dexter Rose, a former St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to Cuba, on June 15. She was 69.
Rose Carter’s body was discovered around 5:30 pm on that day at her brother’s Queen’s Drive home, about a stone’s throw from capital, Kingstown. She was temporarily residing with her brother, The Vincentian newspaper reported.
It said that Rose Carter’s body was “met lying on the floor face down, hands tied together, feet tied together, and an area of her face tied to the railing of a staircase.”
An autopsy revealed that Rose Carter died from strangulation, according to The Vincentian.
She had travelled home to attend the funeral of her 89-year-old mother, Germaine “Granny” Rose, who was interred on May 26.
On June 16, Dexter wrote on the social medium, Facebook, that the “precious life” of Rose Carter, “the gentle, extremely giving lady,” was “mercilessly snuffed out yesterday [June 15] at my home. Makes no sense yet, but we trust that our community, with the police, can help us find her murderers,” he said. “Toni, we owe you this.”
The Vincentian said St. Vincent and the Grenadines police were investigating the death of Rose Carter, who was also the sister of popular local social commentator Renwick Rose and veteran journalist Conley Rose.
But, on Sunday, 40 days after Rose Carter’s untimely death, Dexter Rose wrote on Facebook that, since that time, family members’ lives have “suddenly turned upside down.”
“Yes, it’s been 40 days since we have not slept in our dream home, now turned into a nightmare, despite its architectural beauty,” he wrote.
He added that it has also been “Forty days since the investigating officers would look me in the face and doubt the mode of entry into my home, notwithstanding the clear evidence of forced entry, which someone overlooked.
“But investigations are often about theories, while facts are and will always remain simply facts,” Dexter Rose continued. “Beyond the wild theories, which started to circulate 40 days ago, three children face the fact that some persons murdered their dear mother on June 15, 2018.
“Six surviving siblings still wait and hope for this not to be another cold case, because our sister Toni was always too warm a soul to merit being forgotten,” said the former diplomat and journalist. “This one has to be solved; let us hope before another 40 days.”
Head of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Assistant Superintendent of Police, Hesron Ballantyne, had assured that “the police will explore all information received in an effort to crack” Rose Carter’s case, according to The Vincentian.
“I am always of the opinion that one homicide is too many, and I strongly condemn any sort of criminal activity on our citizens and visitors to our noble land,” the paper quoted Ballantyne as saying.
It also said Acting Commissioner of Police Colin John was “appealing to persons with information, which may assist in the investigation, to give that information to the police.
“He assured that the information provided and the person’s identity would be kept in the strictest confidentiality,” The Vincentian said.
It said John confirmed that the probe would include forensic analysis, “which would have to be done abroad.”
Rose Carter’s funeral was held on July. 6 at Lenox Road Baptist Church in Brooklyn. She was interred the next day at Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum in Farmingdale, Long Island.
