Clarendon mother and daughter charged with nine-year-old boy's murder

A Clarendon woman and her teen daughter have been slapped with criminal charges in connection with the death and dismemberment of a nine-year-old boy in the parish last week.

Head of the Clarendon Police Senior Superintendent Fitz Bailey says 18-year-old Lanei Lewis, of Portland Cottage is facing the more serious charges of murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Her mother, 40-year-old Glenda Wright, also of Portland Cottage, has been charged with misprision of felony or the deliberate concealment of knowledge of a crime.

Bailey said she was charged because investigators believe she knew about the boy's death and failed to report it.

According to SSP Bailey, nine-year-old Juvea Cooper was throwing stones in the community of Portland Cottage and may have shattered a glass at the home shared by Wright and her daughter.

Cooper went missing for several days before his rotting body was found buried in a shallow grave behind a house on January 17.

The police say his throat was slashed and one of his arms severed.

Bailey said a bloody knife, believed to be the murder weapon, and the boy's shoes were found in a pit latrine.

However, he said the boy's arm has not been found.

Wright and Lewis are scheduled to make their first court appearance on Tuesday.