The nude body of a 24 year-old chartered account was discovered Thursday night after someone called the Crane Ridge hotel in Ocho Rios to report that the young woman in room E202B may be in need of help.

When the police arrived at the hotel at about 11:25, about five minutes after receiving a call from Crane Ridge, they discovered that Janelle Whittley, a Montego Bay pastor’s daughter, was dead. A white sheet was over her seemingly battered face and her neck appeared to have been broken.

There was no visible sign of forced entry to the room. The key was in the door on the outside. Up to late evening, Ocho Rios Detective Sergeant N F Simpson and his men were still combing the property for clues.

It was not clear who called to say that Whittley needed help.

The police suspect murder.

The hotel, for now, is treating it as an asthma-related death.

“We can’t say it’s a murder, we have to wait on the autopsy report,” said Crane Ridge’s general manager Michael Gayle.

“As far as I am concerned, and as far as we in the hotel are concerned, it’s a situation that’s related to asthma. So as far as we are concerned it’s natural causes, until the autopsy report says otherwise.”

Whittley worked for the auditing firm KPMG Peat Marwick, and was based in Kingston, having been transferred to Kingston only months ago after passing her exams to qualify as a chartered accountant. She worked for the company for three years.

Whittley checked into Crane Ridge on Monday, having been sent to Ocho Rios by her employers to work on an audit at the Dolphin Cove hotel. She should have checked out yesterday and head for Montego Bay to work on another job there.

Yesterday, the people at Dolphin Cove dismissed the possibility that Whittley’s death could in any way be linked to anything that she may have found there.

“Everything is fine,” said a management official at the hotel, who requested anonymity. “We have no suspicions whatsoever about anything here.”

At KPMG’s offices in Kingston and Montego Bay, people seemed genuinely grieved over Whittley’s death and there was agreement that she was a young woman of promise.

“It’s a particular shock to the firm to lose somebody like that so young, (somebody with) so much promise,” said Greg Shirley, the firm’s managing partner. “It’s really, really sad. It makes you feel like it’s a daughter you’re losing. We’re trying to get some answers because the staff is really upset.”

Added Shirley: “We had transferred her from the Montego Bay to the Kingston office late last year because she had been successful in her examinations and was now a chartered accountant. We felt very highly about her and as a result we wanted to give her some different sorts of experiences.”

In Montego Bay, John Waite, who manages the KPMG office there, said Whittley was a close acquaintance of most of the staff. He declined to comment further.

It was obvious that things were not normal at the office. The atmosphere was tense.

At the city’s Mount Salem Open Bible Church where Whittley’s father is the pastor, the few people there yesterday were clearly upset.

Whittley was active in the church, especially in the youth department. She was a member of the church’s dance group and last performed a week ago at an event called “Dancert”.

“It is a mighty blow to the church, especially to the youth department,” said a female member of the congregation.

“She had been working with the youth department and had a real passion for the Lord and the work of the Lord among young people. The whole church family is affected by her death.”

At Crane Ridge, employees mostly shied away from discussing what happened there Thursday night.

One, however, expressed her concern.

“Nothing like this ever happened here before,” she said.