Annika James doesn’t know if her brother Christopher Murray, who has been missing since last weekend, is among the four men whose bodies were dug up at the old Public Works Department building near Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston on Tuesday afternoon. Neither does the cousin of another missing man named Ricardo Riley, who only gave her name as Green.

Both James and Green are now waiting anxiously for word that will confirm or deny that their missing relatives are among the deceased. However, the wait will likely be long, because according to Senior Superintendent of Police Michael Phipps, commanding officer for Kingston Western Police Division, the unearthed bodies had been dismembered.

“We haven’t had the identities confirmed as yet, but we are working with some relatives and, of course, we will do DNA [tests] as well. They were dismembered, so it is difficult to have them identified,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Phipps said the search began on Monday, after one of the men was reported missing that day, and two others were reported missing on Sunday.

The relatives of Murray and Riley — both workers at a construction site, who are from Pink Lane and Hannah Town, respectively — have been left uneasy about their disappearances.

“Mi still inna disbelief, because wi nuh see no body, but wi hear seh dem dead and all now wi cyaan even find a shirt or a shoes. We jus’ a wait and hope fi the best,” James told the Observer.

She described Murray, who is commonly called Banka, as a loving and caring man who was very fond of his nieces and nephews.

“This shocking. It shake up everybody. Nobody nuh have no complaint say him is a thief or gunman — nothing like dat. Wi just want the body,” she said.

Tiesha, another of Murray’s sisters, detailed the last time she saw him alive.

“The same Saturday when him go work and come back he bought some chunks and make pumpkin rice, and him give me the plate of food and say mi fi eat some and mi tell him to eat some first. From him come out of the yard mi nuh see him back,” she said.

Murray’s cousin, Kerry, who was unable to hold back her tears, added, “Saturday he was here whole time with us and now him gone.”

Meanwhile, Green sang the same woeful tune about her cousin Riley.

She said Riley, who is commonly known as Up, was in high spirits as he was anticipating celebrating his 30th birthday on Wednesday with one of his sons.

“Oh, God, is the worst news ever, because mi and him close. When mi get the call is like mi belly bottom weak. Is somebody from St Thomas call and seh ‘Yuh hear wah happen to him? Dem say dem cyaan find him’ and mi say mi nah put up no RIP pon mi phone status because him a go come back,” she said, crying profusely.

“Fi him birthday him say him did a go fi him son and dem par. Him did a plan, really a plan fi tomorrow [Wednesday]. Him all buy the liquor put down fi him day. Wi just want the body fi bury. Nobody nah go believe until dem see the body. Everybody in disbelief. They [the missing men] were all friends, they grew up together.”

At a Jamaica Constabulary Force press briefing on Monday it was revealed that 848 people — 305 males and 543 females — have been reported missing since the start of the year.