Man killed over unpaid ransom

In the wee hours of Sunday, July 16, about 2:30 a.m., Marvel Brown's father received a telephone call demanding that a $350,000 ransom be paid for his safe release.

Brown's father, Delroy, said the caller threatened to kill his 22-year-old son if his demand was not met.

"The person blocked the number and seh him want $350,000 or him a go kill the b---y boy," revealed the distraught father.

He told the kidnapper that he didn't have that kind of money and he hung up.

About an hour earlier, his friend and housemate, Michael Chambers, got a similar call from Brown's phone. At that time, the caller demanded $50,000 for Brown's release and then promptly hung up the phone.

"The person didn't stay on the phone long, he just asked for the ransom and hang up right away," said Chambers.

At daylight, the family reported the matter to the police. They were concerned about the safety of young Marvel, who left his Independence City home in Portmore, St Catherine, and headed for Kingston. He reportedly went to assist a friend who was hosting a round robin event. THE STAR understands that while at the party, he received a phone call and left the venue, without notifying anyone. It was the last time he was seen alive.

His body was found in a grey Nissan AD Wagon motor car in the Oxford Street area of the capital city about 5:45 that Sunday morning. His relatives, however, were not aware of the discovery. While police were processing the scene in Kingston, his father was at the Greater Portmore Police Station filing a missing person report. Having reported the matter to the police, the family spent the next two weeks wondering about Brown's fate. However, having received no update from the lawmen about the efforts to locate their son, the family reached out to this newspaper.

On Monday, THE STAR published a story titled 'Portmore man believed to have been kidnapped'. Hours after the paper hit the newsstands, Brown's family was contacted by the police. They had found a body two weeks earlier matching his description. It was then that their worst fears were realised, after they were shown photographs taken by crime scene investigators.

"I looked at the pictures and I knew right away it was the body of Marvel, because him have on the same merino and jeans short him left in," said Chambers.

"Finding out that he is dead has brought sadness to us. Delroy (the deceased man's dad) just keep asking, 'Why? What him do why dem kill him?' Everybody around here know him as a good youth, him nuh trouble people, and for dem to kill him and left his body at the side of the road make we have to think hard." Chambers said.