There's another Mahogany Heights murder to report tonight, but this time the victim is a 17 year old girl. Jasmine Petillo was last seen yesterday evening. She was hanging out with a group of friends and left at 4:00. That's the last time they saw her alive because this morning, they woke up to find her half nude body wrapped in a blood soaked quilt. Today we travelled to Mahogany heights to get more answers in this frightening case.
It's in her cousin's small bedroom that Jasmine would have her rehearsals. She would plug in her microphone in this sound system and sing the new song she had composed for her aunt's birthday.
Jasmine was here on Monday practicing with her other marching band members.
Francine Dougal - Cousin
"Ih mi like sing just two days ago Jasmine mi deh inna our house with my lee brother right here and my next cousin; all of them in the marching band. And they mi the sing a song because ih mi the sing a birthday song for my aunty; my aunty birthday the come up and she da the owner of the marching band Ms. Edna May."
It would have been a big celebration and Jasmine would have been the star performer, but now, her aunt Edna will never hear Jasmine's special song because she was brutally murdered last night.
The information is that she was stabbed over 10 times all over her body at a nearby area and then dragged and dumped here in a drain not too far from her home. A farmer found Jasmine's body this morning on his way to work.
Insp. Rochelle Chan - OC, Hattieville
"What occurred this morning is that the police was alerted by a concerned citizen that they saw what appeared to be a human body. He responded to the scene here in Mahogany Heights where he discovered a female half undressed and apparently with multiple stab wounds; indications maybe that the body might have been brought to the scene here."
Jasmine's best friend Juanita told us that Jasmine was with her and other friends all day yesterday, hanging out and having a fun time.
Juanita Beeton - Friend
"She come here like about 10 yesterday morning, from round 10 yesterday morning and we just mi the do a lot of fool; she help me cook. Ih ask my sister in law if ih could please twist ih hair for ah and my sister in law said okay then and then she gone and get the gel and my sister in law do ih hair and after that she gone home, bathe; she pass back about 3 time and tell me about ih wa come back directly ih gwen go see about what the gial the say to make we plan we thing for our band leader and she never did come back. She lef around lke after 4, she left from our house."
It was only until this morning that the news spread among the villagers that her bloodied body was found in a ditch. But there are more questions and speculation than concrete answers. Residents say that Jasmine's murder is connected with another killing that happened last year in the village. But police can't confirm that information at this time. The family is also clueless as to why anyone would want to kill Jasmine.
Courtney Weatherburne
"So you have any idea who would have want kill ah inna this brutal way?"
Francine Dougal - Cousin
"No ma'am. We lost for words right now, everybody the try know the same thing unno the try know."
But regardless of the various reports circulating, the family now has to face the reality of Jasmine's murder and try to carry on with the happy memories of the life she once had.
Courtney Weatherburne
"She was a sister to you."
Juanita Beeton - Friend
"A sister, we grow up together, we gone da high school together everything and how she mi gwen back da school so me and she mi wa hang out again and now that can't happen."
Francine Dougal - Cousin
"Jasmine da mi neva nobody whe give trouble in the community like how people the put it. Jasmine mi deh inna my aunty marching band for as long as I could remember I guess people say negative things about Jasmine because ih no the type of person da could take chances. Ih young but ih know how to defend ihself."
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