30-Year-Old Mother Bludgeoned to Death in Willows Bank
A thirty-year-old mother from Willows Bank Village is the nation’s latest murder victim. And, tonight there seems to be more questions than answers. Cleland resided in a relatively secluded area in the community along with her common-law husband and eighteen-month-old son. Her partner reportedly began looking for her after arriving home from work and finding the child alone in a pool of water in the yard. Her lifeless body was discovered a short distance from their property by another villager who assisted in the search. News Five’s Paul Lopez travelled to the village today. Here is what he found.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
This one bedroom house on the outskirts of Willows Bank Village is where thirty-year-old Margaret Cleland, her common-law husband fifty-two-year-old Emeterio Reyes and their eighteen-month-old son resided. On Tuesday evening, Cleland’s lifeless body was discovered along the dirt road that runs in front of their home. Police observed injuries to her head. Reyes was detained for questioning. He told police that when he arrived home from work he found his son in a pool of water in the yard, but Cleland was nowhere to be found. Reyes ran over to a neighbor’s house for assistance, with the child in his arms. We spoke with that neighbor off camera.
Voice of: Neighbor of Murder Victim
Voice of: Neighbor of Murder Victim
“Last night the man come off the bus about six-twenty-five. He gone across his house and hear his baby the holler for him. He found the baby in a pool. He the look round for the mother and the mother nowhere to be found and come cross to my house because he want to know what happened to the mother and the baby left in the water.”
The child was found in a pool of water about one foot high, near an area that the family used to shower. Blood splattered across two white buckets used to carry water. More signs of bleeding were found inside one of the buckets and around the immediate area. A trail of blood between the area where they showered, to the front door of the house, on the door, and in the home, was also discovered.
Voice of: Neighbor of Murder Victim
“After a while I said let us go across with him to look around. When we come cross with the phone light, because they nuh have no electricity over there, we come cross with the phone light and when we get by the front door, I notice an amount of blood at the front door. So, he gone show we the hole that the baby was in. But, we notice the blood from the door to the pool where the baby was in. After that I told him lets go on the road because we have to call the police. As we come on the road, the next young man with us saw the lady on the side of the road.”
There are speculations that a badly injured Cleland ran out of the yard and unto the road to get help, before collapsing where her lifeless body was discovered. This morning, the area was teaming with police officers working to put together the pieces in this latest murder investigation. Reyes, Cleland’s common-law husband, was detained for questioning.
Voice of: Neighbor of Murder Victim
“Bway well honestly, ih still kinda shocking to see what went on, because we never really had anything like this round here. I nuh know weh fih seh, all I know dah weh we sih last night, the man they come yah the hail we the cry. When we come cross that dah weh we discover pan the road, we discover the lady.”
The neighbor we spoke with off camera says his partner was on the same bus with Reyes and they both got off at the same time. It is believed that the thirty-year-old murder victim knew her life was in danger. Three days ago, she made these posts on her Facebook page. In the first post, she referred to a man who allegedly took someone’s life and had his nephew put behind bars. She made a plea for her children to be taken care of. In the second post, Cleland out rightly wrote that someone was out to take her life. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says the contents of Cleland’s social media posts were only brought to the attention of the police department this morning. The child has since been placed in the care of the Human Service Department, while the investigation is ongoing. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
