MONTEGO BAY, St James — The St James police have listed a man known only as ‘Mario’ as a person of interest in the fatal stabbing of 41-year-old entertainment co-ordinator Dean Moriah, whose nude, bloodied body was discovered at his Montego Bay home early yesterday morning.

Moriah’s Bogue Village house was also allegedly set ablaze by his killer who is believed to have fled the murder scene in his grey 2003 Toyota Camry motor car.

The police theorise that Moriah — who was the entertainment and promotions manager at the popular Margaritaville sports bar and grill on Montego Bay’s Hip Strip — was killed in a fight, which stemmed from a domestic quarrel.

Reports are that about 4:30 am residents discovered Moriah’s body a few metres from his house, parts of which were ablaze. The popular entertainment guru reportedly crawled from the torched building in search of assistance.

However, he only got assistance from firefighters from the Freeport fire station of the Jamaica Fire Brigade who responded to a call.

One member of the community was overheard saying that residents decided to wait on the arrival of a professional medical team before moving Moriah because of the severity of his wounds.

Moriah, meanwhile, has been described as an “awesome” individual by his employer.

“He was an exceptional human being. He was awesome and he will be greatly missed. He was a joy to work with. We looked forward to seeing him on a daily basis,” said an emotional Elleanor Cole Reivers, general manager at Margaritaville.

Similar sentiments were shared by one of Moriah’s female cousins, who was among several persons who turned up at the death scene.

“He is always involved in community affairs and he is always helpful, he would go all the way out to help people. He’s loving, very, very loving. He wouldn’t hurt an ant. And we are in shock because something like this has happened someone like this, in a community like this. We don’t expect this in Jamaica. People don’t take people life so,” she reminisced.

“He was always getting jobs for people, always involved in schools, in sports. He was that kind of person who would reach out and help,” she added.

Popular Jamaican songbird Karen Smith also expressed sadness over the killing, explaining that Moriah was her boss at one point.

“I came here to see for myself what happened today, because Dean Moriah is a… I am still saying is a friend of mine, a really close friend of mine, and he was my boss. I worked with him at various hotels. He was such a wonderful talent and so caring,” said Smith, who visited Moriah’s torched home yesterday.

“As a matter of fact, years ago he won the award for the ‘Most Outstanding Manager’ in the tourism industry. I am going to miss him because he was always so lively and caring,” she added.