‘Blushes’ lured to her death

Sources told Newsday that investigators are working on several leads including one that Simon’s murder may be linked to a massage parlour service she was either involved in or operated and which was advertised mainly on Facebook.

The address for the business was given as Port-of-Spain, Trinidad or, “anywhere you like.” The Facebook page, created on July 17 and last updated on October 31, shows images of scantily clad women and a posted message of three “new local ladies and one Spanish.”

Yesterday, an autopsy was done on the teen’s body by Pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes at the Forensic Science Centre after Simon’s mother Carla formally identified the body as being that of her daughter. Chief investigators Sgt Christopher Fuentes and Cpl Gabriel Stafford witnessed the autopsy.

A weeping Carla Simon, after witnessing the autopsy on her daughter, told Newsday that the condition of her child’s body had left her shaken. “How could someone do something so heinous to another human being,” she asked.

A copy of the autopsy report, which she showed to Newsday, revealed that manual strangulation (use of bare hands to cut off victim’s ability to breathe) was the cause of death. Simon told Newsday that her daughter was also sexually assaulted.

“When I saw my daughter, I almost didn’t recognise her at all. They raped her...brutal, brutal. She didn’t deserve such a death. No matter what she did or what people thought she did, my child did not deserve to die in such a horrible manner,” the weeping woman said.

She pleaded with anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of her daughter’s killers to contact the police. “How would you feel if this happened to your loved one? Deliah was my daughter. She was somebody’s sister...somebody’s friend. Please, if you know anything, please contact the police. Tell them what you know so the people who did this could be brought to justice,” she said.

She again made another plea for anyone who knows the whereabouts of her daughter’s father Jewan Ramdhan to contact the police as so far, no one has been able to locate him.

Police found Simon’s body down a precipice near the Salybia beach last Sunday after receiving an anonymous telephone tip-off.