NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) – Police are investigating the brutal slayings of two people on an outlying Bahamian island where an American business woman was mutilated and killed, and her friend was found shot to death, police said yesterday.
The killings occurred on Cat Island, one of some 700 islands in the Bahamas chain and a center for Obeah, an African religion combining bush medicine and sorcery.
Police said they detained a man in connection with the killings. He allegedly told police the killings were in retaliation for an Obeah curse he believed the two victims had put on him, according to a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday.
Victor Hoyte, 28, was with his girlfriend late Tuesday when he answered a knock on his door, his girlfriend told police. After Hoyte answered the door, the two argued, then the man allegedly shot Hoyte at close range with a shotgun, police said.
The girlfriend identified the man and once police found him, he allegedly told police about the slaying of Carol Meredith, 49, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The man worked for Meredith, who owned a gas station and a charter plane service in the Bahamas.
Meredith, who was found mutilated with her throat slashed, had been living in the Bahamas for about 14 years with her husband, police said. Her husband was off the island on Tuesday.
Source: AP
