SENIOR police detectives have confirmed that the main suspect in the murder of veteran journalist Barbara Gayle was held on Wednesday evening, hours after he abandoned her motor car as law enforcers tightened their dragnet around him.

The suspect was apprehended in heavy foliage near the section of St Catherine where he had ditched the vehicle, licence plate number BG 777, and escaped Wednesday morning.

Reacting to the development, Gayle’s cousin, Michael Daubon, expressed relief.

“My heart feels good right now. It makes me feel a little sense of relief. Jah know, mi glad fi hear that good news,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Earlier Wednesday, police sources told the Observer that the main suspect was seen driving Gayle’s motor car in sections of Gregory Park, St Catherine, on Tuesday, hours after her body had been found at her house in Caymanas Country Club Estate, Phase One in the parish.

According to the sources, the suspect, whose name is being withheld, told people who questioned him about the car that he had rented the vehicle.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) announced that it is partnering with a philanthropic supporter to offer a $6-million reward for information leading to the arrest of Gayle’s killers.

According to the PAJ, “The silencing of the voice of a journalist, intentionally or collaterally, is an attack on the Jamaican society.”

The PAJ added: “It is of deeper significance when the journalist murdered is someone like Barbara [Gayle], who for more that 50 years faithfully shared with the Jamaican public the inner workings of the justice system through the pages of The Gleaner newspaper.”

Gayle was stabbed multiple times in the neck and was believed to have been hit in her head with a pot by the killer. The pot was said to have been found on Gayle’s bed, which one resident of Caymanas Country Club Estate described as unusual, because knowing Gayle she would not have placed kitchenware in her bedroom.

The killer stole Gayle’s motor car and her cellphone.

On Tuesday, news of Gayle’s murder jolted her family, friends, neighbours and the local media fraternity, with people upset that she died in such a brutal manner.

Earlier on Wednesday Daubon told the Observer that the reality of her death has not yet sunken in for those closest to her, as they are still in disbelief.

At the time, on hearing that Gayle’s motor car was found, he expressed optimism that the police would capture the suspect quickly.

“At least it shows that they [the police] are doing the work. They are putting in the work to catch this culprit fast. I don’t think anybody in the world wants to see this guy captured fast like how I want to see it,” he said.

“I was at home when I got a call that they found her vehicle. I would have been happier if they actually caught the culprit. We are not really worried about the car; those are material things that can come and go, but when you take our loved one’s life, that cannot come back. You took something from us before the time and there are no words to explain that,” said Daubon.

“Both her two remaining children are overseas in the United States. Her son is not doing so great. It is like he still doesn’t believe it. She was one of the greatest and one of the most loved people in the world. For somebody to do such a cruel thing and just take her away from us right in the holiday season, it is terrible,” Daubon said.

“I am trying my best not to break down. She was like a mom to me. She kept us on the right path and guided us. She showed us unconditional love and to just see somebody take her away from us just like that, it is rough. It is a very hard pill to swallow. I spoke to her daughter in the morning and she is still in shock. She has not brought herself to a point of believing it,” Daubon told the Observer.

For over five decades Gayle reported on matters — some of them the most gruesome murders — from the island’s courts. It was a cruel twist of irony when she herself became a victim of murder, which has been described as a senseless and brutal act.