Man charged with 5 murders in the Bahamas

Friday, October31, 2003

FREEPORT, Bahamas - Police in the Bahamas on Wednesday charged 35-year-old Cordell Farrington with the murders of four schoolboys as well as the murder of Jamaal Robins, a friend whose remains were discovered Sunday along with those of the four boys. A fifth boy is still missing.

Farrington was charged in the Freeport court with the murders of Jamaal Robins, 22, Mackinson Colas, 11, Junior Reme, 11, DeAngelo McKenzie, 13, and Desmond Rolle, 14. 

Farrington is reported to have met Robins when both received treatment at a Nassau mental health institution in 2001. The four younger boys had worked as bag-packers at the Winn Dixie Supermarket in Freeport and played video games nearby. Farrington worked as a clerk at Kelly's Freeport Ltd., a hardware store located near the Winn Dixie. 

Despite the hundreds of volunteers who searched the 100-mile-long island of Grand Bahama for months, the case came to a head Sunday when Farrington walked into police headquarters and turned himself in.

He then led police to the remains on Barbary Beach, a remote strip of sand surrounded by pine trees where locals have weekend barbecues. 

Authorities did not charge Farrington with the death of the fifth missing boy, 12-year-old Jake Grant, whose May disappearance was long linked with the others. Four of Grant's playmates have been charged with manslaughter in his death - allegedly a swimming pool accident followed by a panicky burial. Police have not recovered his body.

The FBI and British officers from Scotland Yard assisted police in the Bahamas. A retired FBI profiler and a former Las Vegas homicide detective were also sent to help by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, based in Alexandria, Va. 

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version