Johnathon Bessieres, a 26 year-old Kingston building contractor, had been dead for more than 24 hours before his bullet-riddled body was discovered in bushes in the White Marl area of Central Village.

As workers from the Spanish Town Funeral Home stretchered his lifeless body out of the underbrush yesterday, one female relative began hollering loudly. She then clambered into the hearse with the corpse and hugged it to her breast. She wept uncontrollably.

Family members and the police had to restrain her.

Bessieres, a licensed firearm holder, was shot at least four times. Bullet holes were evident in his chest and under the left armpit. His killers apparently took his weapon.

It was not immediately clear yesterday why Bessieres had gone to White Marl in St Catherine, but a senior police officer who visited the scene told the Observer that two men had accompanied him to the area and managed to escape and alert police.

The officer, who did not wish to be named, theorised that a deal may have gone sour.

“We have no conclusive evidence at this point, but we are looking into the possibility of a deal gone sour as the cause of this murder,” the cop said.

According to the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), residents reported hearing gunshots at approximately 11:00 pm on Thursday.

The police were summoned, and when they arrived, a Toyota pick-up truck belonging to Bessieres and a Honda Civic motorcar, bearing licence plates 5650 EE, were found near a National Water Commission (NWC) pumping station in the area.

Police say the Honda Civic was stolen in Kingston on Thursday.

Bessieres’ bullet-riddled body was found by police after an all night search, which included a Jamaica Defense Force helicopter, in a bushy area near a canal at about 7.30 am yesterday.

Scores of grieving relatives and friends of Bessieres gathered at the death scene and were overcome with emotion.

A woman, said to be a sister of the deceased, found an outlet for her grief in the media personnel present and threatened to smash cameras, including the one used by the CCN liaison officer for St Catherine South, Sergeant Jackie Brown.

“Don’t film this. Don’t make me break up any cameras,” the incensed woman screamed at photographers.

Bessieres’ father was at a loss for words, and looked on stone-faced as investigators combed the crime scene.

Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, who visited the crime scene, commented on the year’s murder toll which, up to press time, stood at more than 170.

“This thing is getting worse,” said Adams as he responded to greetings from the scores of onlookers who gathered at the site.

The police was kept busy in that parish yesterday morning, investigating yet another murder, this time in Old Harbour Bay.

The Old Harbour police were yesterday evening searching for a man who allegedly chopped Linval Clarke, also called “Sukie”, 43, during a dispute. Clarke later succumbed to his injuries.

According to police reports, Clarke and 25 year-old Kevin “Blacks” Fearon were involved in a quarrel and both men armed themselves with cutlasses.

A machete-wielding fight developed, and both men were injured.

Clarke, the police report said, did not seek medical attention and later died at his home as a result of his wounds, while Fearon went to the Spanish Town Hospital to seek treatment. When homicide detectives went to the hospital in search of Fearon, he was nowhere to be found.

The Old Harbour homicide department is investigating the murder.