Dad charged in burning death of 13-year-old daughter (Phillipsburg, St. Maarten)

Dad ROBERT REID faces "possible homicide charges."

http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/20110908/news/news1.html

13-Y-O JAMAICAN BURNT TO DEATH - St Maarten police arrest dad on possible murder charges

Robert Reid, a Jamaican man living in St Maarten was Tuesday arrested and faces possible homicide charges following the discovery of a charred body believed to be that of his 13-year-old daughter Tiffany on Tuesday night. That same night the child's parents had reported that she had gone missing.

According to police in the Dutch colony in the eastern Caribbean, at about 8:20 p.m. on Tuesday, police and personnel from the Fire Department were directed to Reward Road in St Maarten where a severely burnt body was found in a ravine. The body was retrieved and identified only as a young female. Police say the body was so badly burnt it was extremely difficult to establish age and identity.

As the police launched their investigations into the matter they received a call from Central Dispatch that a couple - Robert Reid and his wife, whose initials were given as E. J. - had visited the police station earlier and filed a report that their 13-year-old daughter Tiffany had gone missing. The couple, police said, is from Jamaica. The detectives were told that Robert had severe burns to several parts of his body. Orders were immediately issued for the police to locate and apprehend him.

Police reports said Reid was found in a community known as Middle Region and arrested at approximately 11 p.m. on Tuesday night less than three hours after the child's body was discovered in the ravine. He was taken into custody at the Philipsburg Police Station in the centre of the town.

The police said they were processing the crime scene when the couple made the report about their daughter being missing.

Police have yet to identify the body and say they are still in the preliminary stages of their investigations. They have made an appeal to anyone who may have information that can aid in their investigations to contact the St Maarten Police Department.