MANDEVILLE, Manchester — A preacher’s forceful appeal for transparency in the investigation into the death of university student Victoria Brown Hanley cut through the sombre atmosphere of the funeral for the 20-year-old, whose passing remains shrouded in mystery.

“Truth must come forth, and justice must come forth. Everything must be unwrapped so that those who love Victoria can see God’s power and presence and purpose on full display,” a tearful Reverend Khereen Wilson-Bailey told the congregation at Andrews Memorial Church in Mandeville on Monday.

“We are saying, as we come into the context of worship today, no cover-ups, no pretensions, no trying to brush things under the carpet… People need to know that some things that are being threatened to be buried by the power of God can be loosened and made to come forth for all to see,” Reverend Wilson-Bailey added to shouts of “Amen!” from the congregation.

Brown Hanley was found dead in her room on the fourth floor of George Alleyne Hall at The University of the West Indies on October 16.

Initial reports said the final-year student was left alone in her room by her roommate shortly after 1:00 am on October 16. When the roommate returned, sometime after 6:00 am, she reportedly saw Brown Hanley lying face-down with a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. The roommate reportedly removed the scarf and called campus security. A team from the Mona Police Post also responded and it was subsequently confirmed that Brown Hanley, of a Mandeville, Manchester, address, was dead.

At the time, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Area Four, Assistant Commissioner Michael Phipps, said investigators were taking statements and interviewing people.

He also said the police would be “viewing CCTV footage that may have recorded something. We are at the very early stage of our investigation and there is not much we can say at this time, except to say that at this time we are treating this particular incident as a death investigation”.

An autopsy revealed that Brown Hanley died of strangulation. Police have since been tight-lipped regarding the investigation and have not named a person of interest in the matter.

During the funeral on Monday, Reverend Wilson-Bailey wept openly at the start of the sermon as she recounted the death of another youngster.

“This is the second 20-year-old that I have buried in my sojourn… The first young lady was found dead on the haul road in Berry Hill [Manchester] with her head bashed in with a stone
— blunt force trauma to the head, they said. Victoria’s autopsy revealed death by strangulation. As I reflect upon both deaths I was reminded of the brevity and the fragility of life,” she said.

Throughout the tearful funeral, Brown Hanley was remembered as a jovial yet quiet and polite child.

School leaders at her alma mater deCarteret College and her mother’s workplace, May Day High, paid tribute to the young university student.

“I met Victoria on a part of her sojourn… She was [described by her teachers] as quiet, reserved, polite, hard-working, ambitious, not vulgar at all,” said deCarteret College Principal Dr Prim Lewis.

“I must implore those who continue to prey on our children, our young people, to remember that God is omnipotent. Hence your evil will not go unpunished,” Lewis added, eliciting shouts of “Amen!”.

Principal at May Day High Stanford Davis, in his tribute, recalled the moment Brown Hanley’s mother broke down in tears on receiving a phone call informing her of her daughter’s death on October 16.

“We were going to a conference in Hanover… she received a call and she grabbed my hand and started to squeeze my hand and said ‘We have to go to Kingston now!’ She said she just got a call that Victoria was found dead in her room and it was like the world stopped. It was one of the most painful journeys in my life; the longest I ever took from Mandeville to Kingston… Everything was chaotic,” he said.

He recalled meeting Brown Hanley when she was young and precocious.

“When I met Victoria I [asked] her ‘How old are you?’ and Mrs Hanley answered and said her daughter Victoria is nine, and Victoria said ‘No, I am nine and a half,’” Davis said, evoking laughter.

Brown Hanley’s grief-stricken mother, Pauline Brown Hanley, sat in front of the blue coffin bearing her daughter’s remains being consoled by family and friends.

The student’s father, Vernon Hanley, recalled precious memories of his daughter even as he shared his grief with the congregation.

“I am indeed a broken man. No one, as parents, would have ever perceived a day in their wildest imagination of having a situation such as this,” he said.

Brown Hanley’s sister, Dr Veronna Hanley, recounted from the first day she laid eyes on her younger sibling to her being a young adult.

“Vicky was polite, well-behaved, always laughing, always smiling, but also very curious… She was very emotionally intelligent. She was empathetic and kind in a way that felt rare,” said Dr Hanley.

Pallbearers taking the coffin with the body of The University of the West Indies student Victoria Brown Hanley from Andrews Memorial Church in Mandeville following her funeral on Monday.

A teary-eyed Reverend Khereen Wilson-Bailey delivering the sermon at the funeral for Victoria Brown Hanley at Andrews Memorial Church in Mandeville on Monday. (Photos: Kasey Williams)

Vernon Hanley recalls precious memories of his daughter, Victoria Brown Hanley, at her funeral at Andrews Memorial Church in Mandeville on Monday.

The blue coffin bearing the remains of Victoria Brown Hanley with a photo of her inside Andrews Memorial Church in Mandeville during her funeral on Monday.