Body parts of missing school teacher found near old highway exit

The human body parts were found in a severe state of decomposition this afternoon at the back of Sunrise Road in Sandy Bay, Clarendon, which adjoins an abandoned section of what was once part of Highway 2000.

The 44-year-old Four Paths Primary and Junior High School teacher is believed to have been abducted by criminals close to midnight from her home in Denbigh Kraal, May Pen. 

• RELATED STORY: Residents had opportunity to prevent teacher’s death

Alarms were raised the following day after her sudden disappearance. This triggered a national outcry led by relatives and the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA), while the police spared no efforts in its investigations.

Last Saturday cracks suggesting that the police were on the cusps of a breakthrough began to emerge when detectives recovered Dawkins’ blue Toyota Wish motor car in the deep rural community of Belfield in the north western region of St Catherine. That paramilitary operation saw the demise of 20-year-old Jeffery Bedward, who engaged the police in a shootout and was fatally shot in a section of Belfield known as Sand Hole. Another man who was with Bedward at the time escaped. They were attempting to sell the vehicle, the police said.

Earlier on the day teaching colleagues, relatives, friends teamed up with the police and conducted searches primarily in Salt River, Clarendon – a swampy and very bushy area that investigators say are sometimes used by criminals to bury or dump the body of their victims.

Some 48 hours later the brother of Bedward and two other men were taken into custody by detectives as the investigation gather further momentum. Bedward, the police revealed, was a suspect in the murders of Donovan Francis on March 17 in Bellas Gate and before that the January 6, 2020 double homicide of Craig Smith, 41 and 61-year-old Bonito Williams in Chatteau, Clarendon.

Bedward, who also goes by the alias ‘Water Lord’, frequents the Clarendon communities of Chatteau and Sandy Bay, as well as Bellas Gate, a larger district to the adjoining community of Belfield where he was fatally cut down by the security forces.

Based on intelligence being gathered investigators were directed to a very remote area near the former exit of Highway 2000 in Sandy Bay where several human body parts in a very advanced state of decomposition were discovered. The area, Old Harbour News understands, is known among residents to be used by criminals to hide or carry out illicit activities.

Detectives are of the opinion that the human remains found today are that of Dawkins, but will await further DNA analysis before formal conformation is made.

The motive behind her death remains a mystery for detectives, Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey said in an update to the press, as the educator also worked part-time as a bailiff for a local private company. But DCP Bailey said investigators are certain that Bedward was at Dawkins’ home about 11:30 pm on the night she was last seen and also in the area where human skeletal bones were found.

DCP Bailey says the Police have reason to believe that the body that was discovered could be that of Natalie Dawkins. pic.twitter.com/yFJx1lfuCK

— Jamaica Constabulary Force (@JamaicaConstab) April 8, 2021

With hope fading that she would have been found alive, today’s discovery will commence a period of mourning that surely will last for many days and months ahead.

Dawkins has been described as a dedicated teacher who gave her all to the profession.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Crime Portfolio, Fitz Bailey, provides an update into the disappearance of missing teacher, Natalie Dawkins, following the discovery of human remains in Sandy Bay, Clarendon today. pic.twitter.com/NVfyIPSeS4

— Jamaica Constabulary Force (@JamaicaConstab) April 8, 2021