ST ANN, Jamaica — Even though she suspected that her missing father, resort manager Clyde Taylor, would not be found alive the confirmation of his death was a body blow that left Shamara Taylor devastated on Thursday.

“It was one of my dad’s friends who called to say they found my father’s body. When I heard, my body went cold because I couldn’t believe what he was saying. But we knew that it was going to lead to this because knowing the person who my father was, he was going to fight whoever came at him. He was never going to just let it go by. They would have to do something like this to him for him not to come home,” a distraught Shamara told OBSERVER ONLINE.

On Thursday, the 65-year-old’s employees, friends and those who worked in the tourism industry struggled to come to grips with the tragic end to a nightmare that began last Saturday. That was the day he was last seen, telling his sister Vana Taylor, herself a well-known player in the tourist industry, that he was headed out for a few hours. He allegedly left his home in Salem, Runaway Bay, for Ocho Rios, did a routine check-in with an employee via phone and then vanished. It was unlike him to not notify relatives about his whereabouts, so the family’s hopes that he would return safely to them began to fade after two days had passed.

Police said Taylor’s body was found with several chop wounds in a Nissan Note motor car shortly after midday on Thursday in the district of Top Hill in Hampton, Runaway Bay.

“I never knew that these days I had with him would be the last days of seeing my father. I never imagined that someone would… take him away from us in such a manner,” Shamara lamented as she reacted to his death. “I never knew this would be a part of me and my siblings’ story.”

The 31-year-old said she recently returned to Jamaica from Brazil where she lived for several years. Since returning home she has been living with her dad, and his death has left her in shambles.

“I just came back in April last year but when I was away I spoke with him every day. He was always there for me. I can never say I called on my father for something and he disappointed me,” Shamara told OBSERVER ONLINE.

She said he was just as present in his other children’s lives and his eldest son Nehru Taylor and daughter Kheanj Taylor could also depend on him.

“He was always helping my brother and sister with their… restaurant. Whenever we call on daddy he always shows up. It doesn’t matter even if you and him not on good terms. You tell him you need something he says, ‘Alright,’ and he gets it done. He was a family man and always around his children,” Shamara added.

This generosity and willingness to help extended to others outside the family, she said, so it was difficult to understand why anyone would want to harm him.

“There is always somebody with some story and he tried to save everybody,” she added.

The elder Taylor was well-known within the tourism sector and news of his death has rattled those who knew him from his role as manager at the Fisherman’s Point Resort in Ocho Rios.

“Mr Taylor and his sister Vana, who serves as second vice-president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), have been stalwarts of Jamaica’s tourism industry for several decades, contributing much to the development of the industry. We mourn his loss. May he rest in peace,” said JHTA President Clifton Reader in a brief statement.

Regional director at the Jamaica Tourist Board Odette Dyer expressed sorrow after hearing of Taylor’s tragic passing.

“This is really such a blow to the industry to have such a stalwart, somebody who has been in the industry as long as he has, to leave us in such a manner. It is very unfortunate and I’m sending our prayers and thoughts and deepest condolences to the family,” she told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Shoneaka Rattary, an employee at Fisherman’s Resort, was also among those devastated by the news.

“Mr Taylor was a very nice person. He is good with his employees even though he can also be strict when it comes on to his work. I’m very devastated to know that someone would do such a thing,” she said.

– Akera Davis