Police investigators on location in Estate St. John on St. Croix, where the body of a woman was found on Tues. June 1, 2021. Photo Credit: ERNICE GILBERT FOR VI CONSORTIUM
ST. CROIX — Two recent deaths on St. Croix have been ruled homicides by the V.I. Police Department based on autopsy results, V.I.P.D. Public Information Officer Toby Derima has announced.
According to the news release, on June 1, the body of an unidentified adult female was found on the roadside in Estate St. John. According to the autopsy, the female was beaten to death.
The victim has been identified as 58-year-old Nancy Nieves of Estate St. John. The case has been classified a homicide, and is being investigated by the Major Crime Unit, Mr. Derima said.
Then on July 4, the decomposed body of an adult male was found in an apartment in Estate Peter’s Rest. According to the V.I.P.D., the autopsy disclosed the victim was shot multiple times and died as a result. A police source had previously relayed to the Consortium that shell casings were found inside and outside the apartment, and that gunshots had been heard in the area a day before.
The victim has been identified as Michael Scott, age 48 of Estate Peter’s Rest. The case is being investigated as a homicide by the Major Crime Unit.
Detectives are asking for the community’s assistance with any details that may lead to the identification of the perpetrators in these cases. Call 911, the Crime TipLine at (340) 778-4950, or send an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers USVI here.
With the autopsies confirming these incidents, the territory's total homicides for 2021 is now twenty-eight.
