Disturbing new details emerged in the brutal slaying of a 39-year-old Atlanta woman, attacked while strolling on a remote beach in Grenada with her husband.
Authorities on Wednesday charged Dave Michael Benjamin, a landscaper who had apparently been begging for money on the beach, in the case. And they revealed Jessica Colker had been raped by her alleged assailant.
“From the evidence provided we believe that she was sexually assaulted, that she was rape(d),” Acting Royal Grenada Police Force Commissioner Winston James told reporters at a news conference.
Friends and relatives in Atlanta, meanwhile, struggled to make sense of the loss. Colker, a physician assistant, and her husband Brian Melito regularly attended yoga classes at Two Crows Yoga in Grant Park.
“It’s hard to find words right now,” said Narinder Kaur Bazen, an instructor there who knew the couple. “Jess is one of those people who is a natural bright light. She’s so sweet and warm and genuine and authentic, an inviting kind of presence.”
Colker and Melito were attacked Sunday as they walked on the beach, just a day after arriving on the island, a tourist destination off the coast of Venezuela. Some of details were still sketchy, but police said witnesses on the beach reported seeing Benjamin “begging persons on the beach for money.”
“That is why he became our chief suspect,” James said.
James said Benjamin — known as “Giant” or “Shuttle” — “took the couple away” but that Melito managed to escape and sought help for his wife.
A motive was unclear. James would not say whether the accused had demanded money from the couple.
Police said Melito, 62, was not injured. An autopsy earlier this week confirmed Colker died from “extensive skull fracture and asphyxia.”
Benjamin made his first court appearance late Wednesday morning and was remanded to a prison without bond, police said. He has been charged with capital murder and did not have an attorney in court, according to police.
James said Wednesday that Benjamin did not confess to the slaying, as had been reported in some outlets, but was charged based on reliable evidence gathered through investigation.
Benjamin surrendered to police on Monday. Police denied that a blade — such as a machete, cutlass or sword — was used in the attack, despite numerous media reports that Colker was attacked with such a weapon.
Grenada is generally considered one of the safer islands in the Caribbean. And in a news release police argued the 12-mile-long island was still safe.
The death shocked both people on the island and friends of the couple, who married in November 2014 in Atlanta.
Bazen said that a gathering was held Tuesday night at her studio where fellow students reflected on Colker, who was known for her love of dance.
“The words everyone uses for her warmth and light,” she said.
“She’s just someone that lived in true authentic kindness and warmness,” Bazen said. “I want her to be remembered for who she is and not how she died.
“I can still see her dancing.”
Linda Straker reported for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from St. George’s Grenada
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