Johnny “Kountry” Encarnacion Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT
ST. CROIX — The V.I. Police Department is now investigating the disappearance of Johnny “Kountry” Encarnacion as a homicide, with Police Commanding Naomi Joseph stating on Friday that more information, including some "biological evidence" led investigators to believe that he is deceased.
During a press conference held Friday to provide the public with an update on the police department's efforts on St. Croix, CDR Joseph stated, "Right now the Johnny Encarnacion case is being investigated as a homicide at this point, and we haven't found him and so we're still looking and seeking the community's assistance."
The commander then spoke of searches the V.I.P.D. has conducted, and she called on the community to provide information, especially video surveillance. "We have done some extensive searches; we've gone the entire south shore. We went to where his vehicle was located and we're asking those of you who have video of the route from the Peter's Rest area straight down to Frederiksted where we found his vehicle. If you can look through your [surveillance system], maybe you might have seen the black Dakota pickup truck. If you did you can call 911 and let us know — we'll come and get it."
She stressed any footage would be helpful, which the V.I.P.D. would use to piece together evidence and possibly a case.
Mr. Encarnacion was reported missing on Nov. 15, according to CDR Joseph. "We would like to have a better account of what he did during the course of the day. We know what he did early in the morning and we know where he was going, but we need to get some additional information to fill in the gap," she said.
The commander said the family has provided as much information as possible, "but anybody else outside of family who knows something and didn't share it with them, if you could share it with us utilizing either Crime Stoppers, the Tipline, the text format that we have, we really would appreciate it," she added.
The commander did not provide information on whether the V.I.P.D. had found evidence suggesting Mr. Encarnacion had been murdered. However, she said biological evidence had strengthened investigators' suspicion. "It's still an active investigation," she said. "But everything that we have ascertain thus far suggest that that's what it is. Mr. Encarnacion is family-oriented, if he was still among the living he would have made contact with his mom and his brothers who he is very close to. He hasn't done that for half a month or more — about 25 days nobody has seen or heard from him — so we have to move under the belief that he is not among the living at this point in time."
The commander said V.I.P.D. investigators have collected some biological evidence that have been sent away to be analyzed. "Once that comes back we'll have a better picture as to what happened and we'll be able to disclose some more information," she said.
