BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE alleged prime suspect in the disappearance of missing teen, Leanna Napoleon, was released after held again by police.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) with Responsibility for Crime, Andre Mitchell, all suspects, including her brother, are no longer in police custody.
It was recently announcement that Napoleon’s brother (name not provided) was the prime suspect in the investigation, since he was the last person alleged to have seen her alive, was rearrested for a fourth time in connection with the incident.
The police had indicated that he was not cooperating and forthcoming with information that could assist with their investigations.
According to the police, the man reportedly met with the teen on Fort Street, where he allegedly gave her an envelope with money from the sale of a family vehicle.
The teen has not been heard from or seen since then and many rumours had been circulating, none of which turned out to be true.
Commissioner of Police Ian Queeley, speaking at the Prime Minister’s press conference yesterday (May 31), confirmed that officers did not applied polygraph testing during their investigations of the suspects.
“Polygraphing is not used as an investigating tool. So, we can’t use that during our interview with suspects like that without legislation,” Queeley said.
Though there is no legislation in place to administer polygraph tests to suspects, the Police Force uses that system on their own in order to weed out corrupt law enforcement officers.
Questioned on the possibility of calling off the search operation, Queeley said they have no intention of doing so at this time.
“The team that is in place doing the investigation is preparing to do another search in another area quite shortly, and we would be indicating that to the members of the general public who can assist us in the search.”
Not giving much details, ACP Mitchell stated that it is a “very live and active investigation”.
The Crime Chief said while he could confirm that persons were taken into custody, it is not prudent to disclose their names, but confirmed that they were discharged.
Questioned on if all family members were dismissed as suspects, the ACP indicated he could not speak to that and reiterating that it is an ongoing investigation.
