The body of a Georgia woman killed while on vacation in Grenada has been released to her husband, who will be allowed to leave the Caribbean island after being cross-examined Satrurday, officials said.
Jessica Colker, 39, was killed Jan. 24 while walking on a beach on the Caribbean island with her 62-year-old husband, Brian Melito.
According to police and prosecutors on the island, Dave Martin Benjamin, 27, of Grenada, “took the couple away” into a wooded area, but Melito managed to escape and run for help. Benjamin has been charged with capital murder.
Acting Royal Grenada Police Force Commissioner Winston James previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it was unclear why Benjamin, a landscaper, targeted the Atlanta couple. He became the department’s “chief suspect” after witnesses reported seeing him “begging persons on the beach for money” prior to the attack, James said.
Benjamin was convicted of rape in 2013, according to officials, and released from prison in November due to good behavior.
An autopsy determined that Colker was raped and died from "extensive skull fracture and asphyxia."
Melito was not considered a suspect, police said, but he will not be permitted to return home to the United States until after his part in the preliminary hearing that continues this week. The Associated Press reported that prosecutors presented Jan. 29 the first of 12 witnesses expected to take the stand in the case.
Officials said Melito will have to return to Grenada to testify during the trial.
About the Author
