Local police have arrested two men and charged them with murder and rape for allegedly stabbing to death a 51-year-old St. Thomas man and assaulting a 29-year-old woman at Mandahl Beach early Wednesday, Virgin Islands Police Department officials said.
According to a statement issued late Wednesday night, after a day rife with rumor and hearsay, the man was stabbed multiple times and the women was raped in the minutes or hours after police checked on their wellbeing during a late night beach party.
Police arrested Estate Tutu resident Katanio Peets, 36, and Mariendahl resident Jensen Alexander, 29.
Peets was charged with first-degree murder. Alexander was charged with first-degree murder and rape. Bail was denied for both men until they are advised of their rights on Thursday, according to police.
Although the name of the homicide victim was known to Source reporters, police asked that it not be released until his family was notified.
Police said the couple had been on the beach with “several other persons” when police officers arrived just after 1 a.m. to quell a verbal altercation. Police ordered everyone to leave the area, the statement said. When officers returned 15 minutes later, only the would-be victims remained on the beach.
“They told police they could not find their vehicle keys and declined police assistance to take them to another location,” the VIPD statement said.
The woman contacted police later that morning to report that she had been raped and her companion had been wounded sometime after police left, officials said. When officers returned to the scene later on Wednesday they found the body of the 51-year-old man.
Detectives from Major Crime and technicians from the Forensic Crime Scene unit are investigating the case. The rape victim was treated at the Schneider Regional Medical Center and is in good condition, according to the police.
Wednesday’s homicide is the 49th in the Virgin Islands this year —- pushing the territory’s per-capita homicide rate to one of the highest in the entire region.
The victim, whose name the police asked that the Source not release Wednesday, was a long-time regular at Hull Bay beach.
Friends gathered Wednesday at sundown near the Hull Bay boat ramp and at the bar at Hull Bay Hideaway to remember him and to compare the various versions of what happened at Mandahl in the early morning hours.
The victim had told a Source reporter on Saturday that he planned to attend a beach party and cook-off at Mandahl that would last throughout the long holiday weekend. He said he looked forward to good times with friends.
Some of those who gathered at Hull Bay Wednesday said they had been to the multi-day party that ended in his death. They recounted how the party had been broken up by police earlier Tuesday night but a few, including the victims, decided to stay.
The rest of what happened remained open to fierce speculation Wednesday.
Without a clear statement from the police at that point, rumors flew across the bar at Hull Bay Hideaway all evening as friends mourned. Bartenders and people who had been with the victim in the hours before his death tried to dismiss the rumors and urge calm.
St. Thomas/St. John/Water Island Police Chief Rodney F. Querrard Sr. asks the public for any information about this case. Anyone with information should call Major Crime detectives at 715-5545, 715-5546, 642-8449 or the anonymous tip service Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-TIPS.
