Americans experience crime and violence in the Virgin Islands, and there are growing worries about the policing there. The death of former US swimming champion Jamie Cail is the subject of a criminal investigation by the police.
The U.S. Virgin Islands can be risky, and despite being officially a U.S. territory, American families have had trouble getting justice there when their loved ones have been the victims of brutal crime and violence. Americans face crime and violence amid rising concerns over US territory’s policing.
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Paradise does, however, have a sinister side. According to 2012 data from the United Nations, there were 49.28 homicides per 100,000 people living on the islands. Records demonstrate that the islands have consistently neglected to provide the FBI with all homicide data going back years.
It appears that the tendency is nothing new. Eight American travel writers who had been invited to write about the tropical paradise were robbed in front of the St. Thomas legislature when their bus got caught in traffic, according to a United Press International article from 1981.
In those days, the U.S. According to UPI, there are more murders and rapes in the Virgin Islands than on other Caribbean islands or in the US mainland.
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Families are frequently allowed to conduct their own investigations after a murder has been committed because police are supposedly sloppy in their use of standard investigative techniques, according to many sources who have described the procedure to Fox News Digital.
Talks about controlling the island’s police department, which has previously been accused of conducting inadequate investigations, have begun appearing in Facebook groups on the island. In an opinion piece, a former police commissioner urged witnesses to come forward with evidence of crimes. Residents of the island have expressed to Fox News Digital that they are hesitant to speak out on the record because they are extremely concerned for their safety.
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Sarm Heslop, a British flight attendant, was reported missing from her boyfriend’s 47-foot yacht in 2021, but authorities were unable to secure a search warrant for the boat. Even though the partner had previously been convicted of domestic violence and had informed police that was where she had last been seen, they said in a statement to Fox News Digital that a court had rejected their demands for one months later.
Ryan Bane, the boyfriend, then retained Ghislaine Maxwell, a former confidante of Jeffrey Epstein’s, as legal counsel. Epstein, a notorious sex trafficker who passed away in a federal prison in 2019, kept a private island there.
According to court records, in 2005, Connecticut native David Geiger and his 14-year-old son were attacked by Renell Lettsome in a second home invasion robbery. Lettsome used a pipe to beat them both, stabbed the father to death, and set fire to the house.
According to court documents, the prosecution moved Lettsome’s girlfriend, who worked for Geiger, to Florida in exchange for a witness statement and to allay her concerns about her safety.
Lettsome had already escaped to the British Virgin Islands, which were nearby, and a month later, he surrendered to the authorities there. He admitted to the murder and told them he couldn’t eat or sleep.
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USASpending.gov reports that the U.S. The federal government gave the Virgin Islands $1.4 billion last year. According to the World Bank, that represents more than 25% of the territory’s GDP, which is over $4.2 billion.
The FBI advises anyone who thinks they are a witness or victim to a federal crime and violence to call them directly at 1-800-CALL-FBI or to call the local field office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, even if the troubled Virgin Islands Police Department has jurisdiction for local offenses.
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Moreover, the U.S. According to the Coast Guard, anyone in need of assistance in U.S. waters should call out on VHF radio channel 16 and provide their GPS location and the details of their problem.