The
guys name was Mike. I remember when he first arrived in
Negril. He didn't know anyone and when I first met him the
only person he new in Jamaica was Matthew Marzouca. Who was a good
choice, the right person to meet as his family, white
Jamaicans,owned at least a quarter of Jamaica. Mathew also had a
crew of freinds, they all owned bars in negril and businesses
throughout Jamaica and rich younger guys, mostly married. All very
big partiers.They were good for a newcomer, especially business to
link wioth though. They told him everything from who to deal with a
the police station and how to get rid of squatters.
Mike
& his family had been coming to Jamica for the past 10 years on
vacation. Mike was probaly 45 years old. He was also in the bar
business , just a much bigger scale than here and business was a
success.there at least. In the beginning everything started out
well and within one year their was at pickled parrots on the west
and had their was another pickled parrot on the beach. In
fact
Mike
was so successful at his business back people were starting to
complain and their was a rumor that Rick cafe was beginning to hold
some resentment towards pickled parrot. Ricks cafe was
internationally renowned and they made in millions of dollars
off how been the best location in the world to watch the Sunset not
to mention you could jump off 30 feet 40 feet cliffs into the ocean
as the sun setting. Mike in had been able to the derail most
of the tourists to stop at his bar, he also had cliffs to dive off
and added hammock chairs swings and more. So when the the
tourists
drove
to Ricks Cafe they would have to pass by pickled Parrot and party
was on so being tourists they would immediately stop before
reaching ricks cafe and before long not very many people were
actually making it out to ricks cafe most were stopping at pickled
parrot.
I was
selling him an ad in my magazine and of course I was getting the
scoop on the new person in town. He was from Wisconsin and decided
with his family to move to Jamaica and started business. He
was coming to set up the business so when the family arrived the
business would be up and running.He seemed like a nice enough guy,
little did I know.
It had
been two years now since Mike first arrived, since then his 2nd
wife and daughter from his first wife had also arrived. Everyone
seemed very settled, so it seems. Everyone in town also new
been Mike and his wife Irene were alcoholics. A night did not
pass when Mike or his wife were seen drunk at one of the Reggae
Parties. There was as small rumor at one point that Mike, was
having an affair with a girl that lived in Negril. Everybody also
new that's the money used to build the business was. Irenes. Her
family to was supposedly rich, very rich.
Margret
rented Mike and his family the house that they lived at in the West
End of Negril. . One night after the bar closed, Mike had
left early and his wife was left to collect the deposits and bring
it home. Which was approximately two blocks from the
business. She left the business at 11 p.m. by the time she
arrived home and entered to the house their was a gunman in front
of her and shot her three times killing her instantly. The funniest
thing was there was absolutely no way the gunman could of escaped
out the back since was no exit out of the yard and everyone was
outside the minute the shots were fired. Not to mention why didnt
their 2 big pit bull dogs attack? Why were they locked up in the
kennel, which they had neer been in before. I knew this of course
because Margaret who owned the house and knew the details.But again
she was never even approached by the police and being Margaret
there wasnt going to be a chance in hell that she would be the one
to go there.
The
next morning when I went to work the town was buzzing with
news. The word was that Mike set up the murder. It even
went to so far as to people saying that there were some policeman
involved within one week of her murder there were her family
hanging up reward posters all over town. The U.S. Embassy had
even had the FBI come down. It was also being said that the
FBI was . Upset because the local police were not
cooperating. The heat was on in Negril for the next month and
as all that the exciting gossip it had died down and everybody
including the family and the FBI had left the island. The
story remains and all of us locals just watched listen. I
personally had a gut feeling that he had done it. It did not
help the matter that he had moved in his girlfriend not even one
week after the murder.
The
business which by this time was extremely successful, probably one
of the most popular spots in the Negril began to fade just as the
story of the murder. The business was actually owned by Mike it was
still own by the original owners who were apart of Negrils fabulous
history. Once this story reached them at there home in the
U.S. they immediately flew down to Jamaica. Once they arrived
in the rail everybody in town and they were there including
Mike. Supposedly Judy who is originally from Negril saw Mike
at the grocery store and tried to confront him. He brushed
her off and a they were going to meet the next day.
That
night Judy and John, John was an American that had come to Jamaica
in the '60s and had met Judy and had run the business there's
valves 27 years. They were both very disappointed with what
they had heard regarding Mike and the murder of his wife. And
he wanted to reclaim their business at a getting out of
Jamaica.
The
first night they stayed at Judy families resort that was only
approximately four blocks from business. The resort was made
up with about five Thatch cabins. I don't know exactly what happens
that night at the next day the town was hot, Judy and John had been
found to hide out to the chairs in the cabins shot. The cabin
itself had been torched and burnt to the ground. Because Judy was a
Jamaican and John had spent so many years out of United States
dating have very many contacts in the U.S. therefore there was no
FBI no family and no reward money. But people were now livid.
And nobody knew who or why was going on.
One of
the policeman who was accused of being apart of the whole thing and
now all three murders with caught at Montego Bay Airport trying to
lead the country with a suitcase full of American money and False
passport.
I don't
know what ever exactly happened to that policeman, but Mike
continue to run pickled parrot business was not good with all the
bad publicity. He didn't continue to advertise in my magazine
therefore I was still in contact with him. One evening I was
on the beach collecting payments for the ad that he is placed he
and his new girlfriend Alexis were all drunk they were making jokes
about the fact that when they went to Spanish town to renew their
business license they would not renew its until they had proved
that his wife was in fact dead. I guess for some reason they would
not accept the death cetificate so they were making a joke that may
be the needed to drag her dead body.
At this
point I looked at Mike in the face and saw the guilt. I was
absolutely horrified with what these two people were laghing about.
I thought I was alone by that I looked around the bar-seat
everybodys mouth had dropped open. I didn't need any evidence I
didn't need any more stories I knew from that moment on that Mike
had deftly been behind all three of the murders.
As much
as it seems so horrible and so unreal to this day I will never
forget the looked on his face. He was very drunk at it was as
though he wanted to let it out. He may have inherited a
fortune by the lost his soul . And if the day never comes
that Mike is brought to justice I know that in some werd sort of
way justice has been served. Of