Woman found dead after husband's van found on beach

HOURS of frantic searching ended when the body of a Mayaro woman was found washed ashore not far from where her husband's Toyota Hilux pick-up was found crashed on the shore of Penzance beach on Thursday evening.

Krystal Primus-Espinoza, the mother of two, was said to have left her St Ann's Village, Mayaro home on Wednesday in her husband Anvon Espinoza's van. When she did not return home, a report was made to police, but when officers said that 24 hours had to pass before a Missing Persons report could be filed, relatives decided to search for the 36-year-old woman.
Police said Espinoza's van was found badly damaged on the beach, leading many to believe it had left the road and plummeted over a cliff onto the beach.

In the van, police found the driving permits of the couple but Krystal was nowhere to be seen. The search continued for her.

Primus-Espinoza was last seen at her home at around 9 am on Wednesday with her children. Speaking on Thursday with Newsday, a relative who asked not to be publicly identified said Primus-Espinoza left in her husband's van but the relative did not know for certain where she went, but added she was not known to stay away from home for long periods.

"If she does leave the house it's usually just to go to the shop, so when two and three hours passed, we started calling everyone and went to look for her.

"When we realised she was missing we went to the police but they said we had to wait the 24-hour period (before a report could be made) but as soon as we got up this morning we started to circulate her pictures on social media as we continued to look for her," the relative said.

She added that one of Primus-Espinoza's brothers was contacted by a man who said he saw the van on a beach in Balandra at around 10 am. The van's tray, bonnet and side doors were damaged. The scene was visited by Matura police while Crime Scene Investigators arrived just before 3 pm.

Newsday understands the Coast Guard also assisted in the search for Primus-Espinoza. Investigators said they found a wallet in the van which contained two driver's permits belonging to Primus-Espinoza and her husband.

At around 4.30 pm, information reaching Newsday's newsroom was that her body had been found washed ashore. This was later confirmed by relatives.

Not too long after, Ricardo Primus posted on his Facebook account: "Ok people we just found our sister, please respect our family. RIP Krystal Primus-Espinoza, until we meet again." In a later post, also on his Facebook page, Primus said: "This is my second sister I've lost in four years. God knows best."

The body was later taken to the Forensic Science Centre in St James, where an autopsy is expected to be done today. Police sources said they would await the outcome before deciding on the next phase of the investigation.

Newsday was told  Homicide Investigations Bureau officers were still at the scene up to 5 pm on Thursday.

ASHANTI STILL MISSING

In an unrelated incident police and relatives were continuing with their search for 18-year-old schoolgirl Ashanti Riley, who was reported missing on Sunday.

Riley left her San Juan apartment home and got into a car to go to her grandmother's birthday party. She has not been seen or heard from since and her mother later reported her missing.
When Newsday checked with Ashanti's mother Candice Riley on Thursday, she said there had been no new development and that the police were no closer to locating her daughter.

In the hours after Ashanti's disappearance, a 32-year-old man who is believed to be the driver of the PH (private-hire) taxi she was last seen getting into, was detained by police.

Police sources told Newsday on Thursday that the driver, who remains in custody, has since hired a lawyer and has not told police anything. Sources added that detectives from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad and the Cyber-Crime  Unit are now involved in the investigation.

According to data from the police, 416 women have been reported missing this year up to December 2. The data also showed that many of the women – 210 – fell within the 15-19 age bracket.