Kervin Phillip
The skeletal remains of a man found outside a shack in the heights of Choiseul over two months ago has yet to be identified.
Both relatives and police suspect the bones may belong to 38-year-old Kervin Phillip who has been missing since 2013.
Police had said in a press release in May that DNA testing was due to be done on the remains.
In an interview on June 10, a police source told Saint Lucia News Online (SNO) the testing was still being undertaken to determine the individual’s identity. That included taking mucus swab samples from family members and further tests.
Speaking to SNO on Friday, July 4, the source said that while all the samples have been taken, they have not been handed over to the forensics lab, neither the remains.
According to the source, the delay is not the fault of police investigators but instead is on the part of the lab “because there is a procedure that needs to be followed”.
“There are other important stuff that they are actually working on right now. They said as soon as they are through they will be contacting us and we will be handing over the stuff to them,” the source said.
A resident of Caffiere, Choiseul found the skeleton in an isolated and forested area between Reunion and Caffiere, Choiseul in May.
Two Choiseul families had claimed that the remains were that of their relatives.
According to the source, most of the evidence so far points to the body being that of Phillip.
Reports are that Phillip, who became a Rastafarian, went to live in isolation in the heights of Choiseul and would normally spend a whole year without contacting his family, but had not returned for a couple years.
However, a relative of a man named “Manistess” Stephen has also claimed that the bones could be his. Stephen has been missing for a few years now.