By EARYEL BOWLEG
Tribune Staff Reporter
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
A FRIEND of a 24-year-old woman found hanging in a hotel room on Thursday night says she doubts the victim ended her own life. She suspects that she was a victim of foul play.
Late yesterday, Social Services and Urban Development Minister Obie Wilchcombe issued a statement identifying the victim as Carissa Culmer, a mother of one.
“I am advised,” he said in a press release, “that Ms Culmer was nurtured in our child care facilities as an adolescent and showed much promise when she eventually exited the system. The circumstances surrounding Ms Culmer’s death are under active investigation by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. I will reserve further comments until these investigations are completed.”
Ms Culmer was found in a room at the Land Shark Coco Plum Resort on West Bay Street where she is alleged to have hanged herself. Her child was said to be in the room when her body was found.
Superintendent Audley Peters told reporters at the scene Thursday that due to the early stages of the investigation, police would await the results of an autopsy to officially determine the cause of death.
Last November, Ms Culmer made a tearful plea in a video on Facebook for help as she gave her account of the repeated and ongoing physical abuse she suffered at the hands of a man.
Monica Farrington, in an interview with The Tribune Friday remembered her friend’s character and the love she had for her young son. These were reasons enough for her to doubt that Culmer committed suicide.
Ms Farrington said: “She’s a strong person and all that she been through. I mean, like being homeless, having nowhere to go… being abused – all this stuff. Why didn’t she kill herself then?
“(But now) especially when she have a baby? That baby mean so much to her. When she was pregnant with that boy, she didn’t want that little boy to go through what she went through. I can’t believe this happen – not with her. She wasn’t the person to do this at all. Never talked about killing herself. Never talked about hurting herself. None of that.”
Ms Farrington said she is going to wait on the results of the investigation.
She said she had lived with Ms Culmer between 2018 and 2019 for three to four months before Ms Culmer’s baby was born.
“She was excited about the baby,” Ms Farrington said. “She wanted her son to have something she did not have growing up – both a mother and a father.”
Comments
John 2 years, 1 month ago
If there is foul play, then there will also be evidence to support foul play. If it was suicide then the police will look for certain evidence to support it. For example was the victim still involved with someone she had before the courts for domestic violence? You cannot rule out the potential of a person engaged in domestic violence to do anything. And also cannot rule out the possibility of anyone taking their own life. The mental conditions of all humans is not constant but changes and varies. A full and proper investigation will determine the truth. And most likely the motel had video cameras.
tribanon 2 years, 1 month ago
Can you just imagine what it must have been like being nutured as a child in child care facility run by abusive government employees?!
John 2 years, 1 month ago
Speaking generally. Some people love to play the role of ‘victim.’ They love the attention it garners. ‘Look at poor lil ole helpless me.’ And that is why people can’t understand why a person would remain in a toxic or abusive relationship. Even when a person is on drug alcohol or other substance abuse, one of the key steps on the road to recovery is having the ability to walk away and the strength to not look back. An abusive person needs victims. Don’t volunteer yourself to be one.
themessenger 2 years, 1 month ago
Just as a woman should have the courage and strength to walk away and not look back at a man who expects her to submit to the sexual demands of that man against her own will.
John 2 years, 1 month ago
i am convinced that you have mental challenges. So why did the woman enter into a marriage if she doesn't intend to fulfil the covenants of that contract? And, secondly why continue to hold on to a marriage if you do not intend to submit to your partner/ Why not anul the marriage and have it set aside rather than to continue to dish out cruel and unusual punishment to your partner, who, apparently are estranged with? Why seek to make a criminal out of and probably send someone to jail who entered into a contract with you in good faith and is only asking you to fulfil your covenants, Did you go cold and frigid on your spouse?
M0J0 2 years, 1 month ago
Reality is hard to come to grip with for many, the man always takes the blame directly or indirectly and if there was someone else involved I am sure by now they would have been arrested. This was not a residence but a hotel and I am sure cameras are on the premises.
sheeprunner12 2 years, 1 month ago
Agree .............. there should be footage of her final interactions. Hopefully
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