The Tribune

THE mother of a 33-year-old man found dead with a gunshot wound on a shoreline off Marshall Road on Saturday said her heart is “broken beyond words”.

Collingwood Turnquest Jr, her firstborn son, was due to join other crew members on a fishing trip that morning but never arrived at their meeting point. Worried by his absence, the crew went looking for him in an area where they thought he might be, and found his body.

Police initially described the death as a suspected suicide but have since classified it as a suspicious death.

In a public Facebook post, Cleopatra Turnquest said she never imagined she would have to say goodbye to him so soon. She described him as an introvert who kept much bottled up inside, quietly carrying struggles others could not see. Even so, he showed up and worked tirelessly every day, never letting anyone see that something might be wrong.

“If only we had known the weight you were carrying,” she wrote.

“Oh, my precious son, how I wish I could hold you just one more time, hear your voice, see your smile, and tell you once again how deeply you are loved,” Ms Turnquest wrote. “A part of me has gone with you, and life will never be quite the same.”

She said her son had made her a mother for the first time, and that being his mother was one of the greatest honours of her life.

“Forever my baby. Forever my son. Forever a part of me,” she wrote.

Police said officers were alerted shortly after 10am on Saturday that a man had been found about one mile along the south-western shoreline off Marshall Road.

When officers arrived, they found a white van and Turnquest’s body lying nearby with an apparent gunshot wound to the face. A shotgun was reportedly found close to him. Emergency Medical Services personnel examined him and confirmed he showed no signs of life.

Police said the circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation.