OCHO RIOS, St Ann – The St Mary police, assisted by residents of Baccas Wood near Islington in St Mary, were yesterday still searching for the right leg of 17-year-old Shantel Irving who was killed and her body dismembered on Friday.

Residents found an amputated left leg near Moncrieffe River in the district on Saturday, and other parts of her body stuffed in a black plastic bag and partially buried at around 2:00 pm on Sunday. The right leg was missing.

Following Saturday’s discovery, residents of the community threatened to take the law into their own hands, after fingering a man they claimed had frequent quarrels with the teenager.

The man, who is friendly with an aunt of the deceased, turned himself over to the police who have held him in protective custody since then.

The police say they have not charged the man as investigations are continuing.

However, according to Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer for St Mary, Cpl Angella McTaggart, “statements are being collected and they all point in the direction of the gentleman. We expect that he will be charged soon”.

On Monday, Shantel’s mother, Donna Walker, of Seaview Gardens in Kingston, was in Baccas Wood, grieving for her daughter.

She said the entire family was in mourning.

“All now mi feel weak,” Walker told the Observer. She said that she had not seen her daughter since last December.

Shantel left behind her one-year-and-nine-month-old daughter Thalia, who at the time was staying with relatives in Kingston.

According to Walker, Shantel had left Seaview Gardens to go to St Mary to “cool out” as she and her child’s father were not on good terms.

Since Shantel went to live with her aunt at Baccas Wood, the accused, who used to stay there, had to move out, the police reported.

Meanwhile, there was an unconfirmed report yesterday that Shantel’s aunt had left her in bed early Friday morning, but when she returned around 9:00 am she did not see her.

According to one resident, the teenage mother was seen at the Baccas Wood square Friday morning, barefooted, and other residents surmised that something had gone wrong.

The resident said a friend asked her if she was okay and why she came out barefooted, and she said that she was fine. A few minutes later, she said she had a headache, left and headed for home. She was not seen alive again.

Walker said yesterday after viewing the remains of her daughter’s body, it appeared that she had been strangled before being dismembered.