Police close to break in Blake murder case
Since the kidnapping and murder of multi-millionaire heiress Therese Blake Ayuso on October twelfth, there has been little information coming out of the police department. Today, however, the cops were talking and say they are close to making an arrest. Officials say they have impounded a white two door Chevrolet Cavalier with California license plates that has now been positively identified as the vehicle the killers used to get away. The police have also confirmed that one of their own officers has been interdicted from duty pending the outcome of the investigation. In an interview with News Five, CIB head Inspector Mario Vernon, said they will be making arrests soon and it will be more than two persons who will eventually be brought to justice.
Inspector Mario Vernon, Officer in Charge, CIB
“I can say that so far we have since recovered the getaway car. It has been identified by several witnesses taking physical looks at it since it has been impounded.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Who is the owner of this vehicle?”
Inspector Mario Vernon
“I wouldn’t want to say so at this time. The thing is that the ownership is in sort of dispute, so I wouldn’t want to name any particular person as being the owner now. But the vehicle was in the hands of a number of persons and we are doing an elimination process for that and narrowing down to who had it in their control on that particular day in question.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Did it have local license plates or foreign license plates?”
Inspector Mario Vernon
“It had on foreign license plate to the back, but apparently it was hurriedly screwed on, sort of handwork or so. That is some reason for suspicion, but besides that I say we have the car. We have since been through it, the processing people, the forensic at the scenes of crimes and we have come up with three different pieces of trace evidence for analysis. We can do basic analysis here, forensic type analysis. But if we need to go into DNA testing, we need to go abroad with that and that is time consuming.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Since last week we have been hearing rumours that you guys have detained one of your own officers in connection with her murder. Is this true?”
Inspector Mario Vernon
“That is true. We had information that this particular officer had control of that vehicle, total control. So in fact…”
Jacqueline Woods
“What do you mean he had total control of the vehicle?”
Inspector Mario Vernon
“There was some agreement between him and other persons who claimed ownership of the vehicle and so he got it in his possession for a period of time. He is the man who should be able to say who had that car on that particular day. So what we have done so far is sort of relieve him of any police duties whilst we can continue this investigation. We may come back to him as the evidence gets stronger.
Jacqueline Woods
“Who is the officer?”
Inspector Mario Vernon
“I wouldn’t want to say so. The thing is that it’s not that I’m reluctant to tell the public who are the culprits out there. It’s a thing where it’s the type of crime that is certainly a conspiracy and a number of persons are involved. We have since identified some of those persons, but what I want to do, is when I throw a net we get everybody inside. If we begin to go up the ladder, the one at the top will know that you are eventually reaching to him, so to speak, and that person may elude the police one way or the other, so when we may a move it will be a total group.”
Jacqueline Woods
“At this time, can you say why she was killed? We know primarily that the motive was what, kidnapping?”
Inspector Mario Vernon
“Primarily we know that she won civil actions against at least two groups of persons and to the tune of just over a million dollars each. That is still being contested, but as it was the award was to her or the Blake estate as it is. The other thing is that one could speculate and say the motive might have been kidnapping because it doesn’t seem that the murder was intended to be committed right there and then. And we all know that it is said that the lady was a wealthy figure in this society and perhaps a ransom was there in the making.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Did you all find any letters in Therese’s home that suggested that she had been receiving death threats and she had feared for her life?”
Inspector Mario Vernon
“Yes we have letters, but the contents I won’t reveal. But it’s certainly the contents of those letters that are helping us.”
News Five has learned that the officer who has been interdicted from duty is Corporal Rodwell Richards, better known as Tiger. We tried to contact Richards but were told by his attorney that because the matter is still under investigation it is not appropriate for his client to speak with the press.
