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– grief-stricken relatives bemoan death of shonnette Dover
Constance Dover, the grandmother of the 21-year-old Linden woman who was shot and killed and her body buried in a shallow grave at Wismar, Linden, said only God can take away the pain she feels inside.
“Ah feel bad, ah feel very much hurt. Hurt, hurt, hurt, is only God can heal the wound right now, none body else can’t heal the wound, only God because he knows what we are feeling,” Dover told reporters upon learning of the murder of her grandchild last Friday.
Dover’s decomposed body was discovered by police investigators during the wee hours of Friday morning at the back of a house, she and her 19-year-old boyfriend Shaquawn Alleyne shared at Canvas City, Wismar, Linden. Alleyne, the prime suspect in the murder investigation.
The elderly woman, who recalled that Alleyne was actively involved in the search for Dover, said she had no clue that he had murdered her granddaughter. “I aint suspect that he would have been involved, but he is involved, I didn’t expect that he would do anything of this nature, never ever think that, that would have happened,” Constance Dover said.
She told reporters that she and her granddaughter were very close. “We were very tight, and it baffled me that Shonnette did not respond one day, in spite of all these things that were going on, and that was the thing that get us worried. We wanted to know what happened. Call her phone, we not getting through to her phone, and neither she isn’t calling us, and that had us worried worried all the time,” the elderly woman said.
Another relative Odessa Luke told reporters at the scene on Friday Luke told reporters that it was only recently that an uncle of the family died. “She came from a poor family, her mother taking it real hard, real hard. Is only the other day, last Saturday we buried an uncle, now Shonnette,” Luke said, adding that her niece was a pleasant individual.
Holding out hope
Days after Shonette Dover had disappeared family members were holding out hope that she would have returned safely. One relative had told Village Voice News that while it was possible that Shonnette may be intentionally staying away due to her rocky relationship, they are uncertain of this as it is unlike her not to communicate even during her worst periods.
The Village Voice News had spoken with the sister, mother and grandmother to get a better understanding of the situation. According to Shonnette’s mother, the young woman resided with her boyfriend in Canvas City, Linden. On the last day she was seen, her younger sister was also at the residence. Speaking with the newspaper, the younger sister said that the last thing her sister told her on April 3 was that she was headed to work.
Shonnette worked at a bar near the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground, called the Country Grill. To the sister, Shonnette “seemed normal” like every other day when she left. However, the woman didn’t turn up to work that day. Speaking with Shonnette’s mother, Simone Benjamin, it was revealed that Shonnette reportedly left home that morning with her key documents. She learned this on the day after her daughter’s disappearance when her daughter’s boyfriend visited her inquiring about Shonnette’s whereabouts. He said that Shonnette wasn’t answering his calls and noted that the two were facing relationship issues.
“He said that he think that we gon got to carry this thing at the station because he can’t see Shonnette just gone just so. He said he looked in the house and she gone with she papers, she documents and so. She had some shoes and she gone with that. She clothes there, yes, but she just go out with she working bag and she ain’t come back. I don’t know what fishy thing is this,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin said that Shnonette and her boyfriend have gotten into fights in the past due to issues in their relationship. She had wondered whether her daughter may have feared for her safety and therefore left without a trace. Leading up to her disappearance, the two got into another fight and for a period Shonnette went to stay with her grandmother but eventually returned to her boyfriend. Benjamin said that Shonnette had threatened to leave her boyfriend permanently and return to live with her family. “I don’t know what problem she and she boy get but my daughter told me [in the past] she would move on and go start a new life, go away and start a new life…”
Shallow grave
The police in a statement said based on information received, investigators contacted Dover’s 15-year-old sister on Thursday at about 23:35 hours. At about 00:01hrs on Friday, detectives – in the presence of a Child Care and Probation Officer at Wismar Police Station Criminal Investigation Department, subjected the 15-year-old to a video interview, during which she was told of an allegation, cautioned in accordance with the Judges Rules and provided a statement.
It is alleged that the 15-year-old witnessed the murdered of her sister, and then accompanied the prime suspect to his father to disclose what had happened. Collectively, they dug a hole aback the house where the victim was buried. The suspect then hid the gun.
Upon the discovery, the 15-yr-old was placed into custody pending investigations. The father of the suspect was arrested and placed in custody pending investigations.
Constance Dover told reporters that she is of the belief that the 15-year-old was threatened into silence. “I want to believe so because the little sister never exposed or tell us anything in spite of what, she didn’t say anything. To my knowledge is that she was threatened and so she kept it as a secret,” Constance Dover said.
The elderly woman said she had asked God for a revelation.
“At one time I tell God, I said hear, is dead or alive, we want to see her, if she comes in person that I can hold and she can talk to me, we are happy for that but if that can’t happen and if she is dead we want to get her body so we can bury her, and that is going to ease the pressure,” she said.
In another interview, Odessa Luke, aunt of Shonnette Dover, told reporters that: “It real hard, it real hard.”
At the time, she was speaking at the crime scene where hundreds of residents and friends had gathered. Luke told reporters that it was only recently that an uncle of the family died. “She came from a poor family, her mother taking it real hard, real hard. Is only the other day, last Saturday we buried an uncle, now Shonnette,” Luke said.
