Transcript of the CrimeWaves Podcast on the unsolved, truecrime murder of a beautiful, young girl who, allegedly, goes out with a rich man. She doesn’t come home in a pumpkin coach with a marriage proposal but is murdered.

It was Cinderella in reverse. A poor, beautiful young girl gets involved, allegedly, with a rich man.  

She doesn’t end up coming home in a pumpkin coach with mice for horses and glass slippers and a marriage proposal … but is murdered.

On April 9, 1993, 19-year-old Monica Reece was thrown from a pickup truck onto Main Street, Georgetown, Guyana at 10:30 PM. 

Despite there being witnesses to this shocking act, this case is still one of the most haunting unsolved cases in Guyanese history. The brutal and senseless nature of Monica Reece’s death captured the nation’s attention and sparked countless theories, debates, and speculation over the years.

In this episode of CrimeWaves, we sit down with renowned local journalist Michael Jordan to revisit the heartbreaking details of the case. Together, we explore the events of that fateful night, examine the evidence, and discuss why this case remains unsolved to this day. Join us as we shed light on the tragedy of Monica Reece and the questions that continue to haunt Guyana decades later.

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Declan Hill: It was Cinderella in reverse. A poor, beautiful young girl gets involved with a rich man, but she doesn’t end up coming home in a pumpkin coach with mice for horses and glass slippers but is murdered.

And her mutilated body dumped on the main street of Georgetown, Guyana. Now that story has haunted Guyanese society for decades. All kinds of rumors, speculation, and theories have been raised. But one thing is clear, utterly inadequate investigation doomed the case from the very beginning. Welcome to CrimeWaves.

Declan Hill: Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in the world. We hope you’re doing well. And that you will have your spirit stirred and moved by this episode of crime waves. Now as a professor of investigations, I get to work with some of the brightest young students of forensic science in the world.

And on this episode, it is the brilliant Mikhael Seepersaud. She brought us the cold case that has haunted the country. Monica Reece in Guyana. 

Guyana is on the Northeastern tip of Latin America. It’s an unusual country for the region in that it was colonized by the British rather than the Spanish and Portuguese. And in the early 1990s in Guyana, it was a totally different era. Since then, a flood of Latin American drug cartels have devastated the country and the racial tension between the black and Indian communities, which dominated the politics of the country have been exacerbated by narco corruption.

But in 1993, Guyana was still a relatively peaceful place, which is why it was a shock when on April 4th, 1993, Good Friday. At 1030 p. m., a young woman, Monica Reece, was murdered, and her body dumped from a pickup truck in the main street of downtown Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. If a body is thrown out on the streets of the city, not hidden or disappeared a la Jimmy Hoffa, and there are witnesses who see that incident, you might think it would be an easy case to solve, an easy case to solve… but not in Guyana, not in the 1990s, not still thirty decades later.…  . So, on crime waves, we found local investigative journalist, Michael Jordan, who’s made this case one of his professional passions to speak about.

At 10 30 at night on Good Friday of all occasions, a young woman’s body is dumped on one of the main streets and no one seems to care. So, what do you do next? Where do you go from there?

Michael Jordan: What I did was go to the police station, the main police station in Georgetown, which was Breakdown Police Station. I went there and I got some information. Then I went to. Main Street itself, and I remember speaking to some of the guys who would hang out in Main Street.

Then I went to CID headquarters, and I saw that they had at least one pickup there in Pounded, but I didn’t get much information. Then I went to Monica Reece’s family, which they were living not very far away from the Chronicle itself.

In a street called East Street. And I spoke with them, and I got a photograph, and I did a story, but it was rather vague. I knew that, I knew whose vehicle they had impounded, and how I knew is that we, I took down the number of the vehicle, and I called the License and Revenue Department, and they identified the owner of the vehicle.

Declan Hill: The significance was that we know. A witness has seen a pickup truck driving away after Monica Reece’s body is dumped on the main streets of Georgetown. Somebody has seen a pickup truck. So, you’re doing the basics of journalism, the basics of investigation. Following and doing the steps.

And before we get into that investigation, tell us a little bit about why this case has haunted Guyana so much. Because when our producer came to us with this idea, she said, look, this, this is still a young woman is dumped on the streets of Georgetown in 27 years. Later, people don’t know why, but with all the murders, with all the crime that have come to Guyana, people are still interested in this case.

Why? 

Michael Jordan: I think one of the reasons is the prominence of the crime suspect, the brazenness of the crime, and that’s another one, and the fact that this case, in the view of most of us, should have been solved. I had expected, after writing that first story and the second one, that within a week, I would have been at the courts.

And seeing that individual in handcuffs. I’m being escorted up the steps. It never happened. 

Declan Hill: Tell us, without identifying it because they haven’t been charged, but people in Georgetown, what do they think of that prime suspect? Is he from a rich family or poor family?

Michael Jordan: He’s from a rich family, a well-known family. 

Declan Hill: And Monica Reece, what is her background? 

Michael Jordan: Quite poor. Quite poor, yes. At one time, she had lived in a little shack on the street where a lot of, a few other vagrants were living.

That’s what I know about her. I, it seems as if she was trying to get her life back together in terms of obtaining a job. But she seemed that she was quite a troubled individual. 

Declan Hill: How so? 

Michael Jordan: With her escapades with men. 

Declan Hill: Okay. Now, I want to stress here, by the way, Declan Hill’s sexual activities when he was in his early 20s would bear no investigation on any part, and I don’t really care about the sexual background of Monica Reece, particularly because she was only 19.

But what the public assumes in Guyana, is that all of the We’ve got the reverse of the Cinderella story. This good looking, poor, young woman has gone off with some rich chap, and she hasn’t been swept off her feet, and married, and lived happily ever after. Instead, she’s been badly beaten, and then her body, her murdered body, has been dumped in the middle of the street, and nobody has been caught.

 

Prime Conversations News Clip: Reece’s body was found on the eastern side of the Western Carriageway on Main Street. It was suspected that Reece either fell out, was pushed out, or tried to escape from what was then referred to as a 4×4 vehicle. When the police arrived on the scene that night in 1993, her head laid in a pool of blood, the former prime chief at that time recalled.

Dr. Mootoo examined the body and found at this scene that there were broken bones at the back of her head, which was resting on the ground, and that segments of her hair were broken and left on the ground. 

 Declan Hill:Tell us a little bit from what you can gather. What happened that night?

 Walk us through that from your investigation, please. 

Michael Jordan: That day she was supposed to be working 

Declan Hill: as a security guard. 

Michael Jordan: Yes, she was working as a security guard and on that same day she had promised to meet the different person. He went down a street called Church Street. She’s a truck driver there. She gave a cousin of hers a phone number, which she wrote on a matchbox. 

She spoke to another person and said that they shouldn’t be surprised if she’s dead.

She allegedly also made a report at one station. She went there crying, according to the timeline that the police have, to file a complaint against someone.

And then, that night she spoke to a friend, a male friend, And the final thing is when she was seen falling out of the pickup. That is what I remember. 

Declan Hill: She went to a police station? 

Michael Jordan: Yes. 

Declan Hill: And filed a complaint? 

 Do they know the name of this person? 

Michael Jordan: No. I got a copy of the file. There was no name in the file about who the person was that she filed a complaint about 

Well, let me tell you this. After I spoke with you. Please. There was something that was niggling at me. You Yes. And I know that we missed this with all the questions that you’ve asked.

Here, samples were taken from various pickups that were impounded. 

Declan Hill: Yes. 

Michael Jordan: And from a hairbrush that was found in one of the vehicles. Monica Reece’s body was exhumed. Here, samples were taken. But the big question is, DNA evidence is usually taken to match it against.

Declan Hill: Yes. 

Michael Jordan: And in my view, I don’t think that any DNA was taken from any of the individuals who were questioned


Prime Conversations News Clip: Over the weeks, the investigation saw a few developments. This include the police reining in on vehicles of a certain type. Several persons were then interviewed. The police then zoomed in on four persons of interest.

Declan Hill: And there was pickup trucks from relatively wealthy men in Georgetown. Were they examined forensically so that hair, fingerprints, or something of Monica Reece’s?

Michael Jordan: Yes, they were. They were examined for hair. Well, I guess they would have been examined for fingerprints also, but nothing according to the police was found to link the suspects to Monica Reece. 

Declan Hill: Let me just go back a step because my understanding of Guyanese politics and I, I really haven’t followed it since Chetty Jaga and the independence from Britain. 

And for the listeners that don’t know Guyanese politics and history, it’s fascinating, but it divides along racial lines, does it not? You’re either a member of the black community or you’re a member of the Indian, or South Asian community. 

Michael Jordan: Yes. There’s also the thing about wealth that comes into play.

Declan Hill: Does social clause beat racial, background, so do the rich people stick together, against the poor?

Michael Jordan: Let me put it this way. Please. We have to add another ingredient to this case. This is a case you have looked, and that is the police, how corrupt the police might be or might not be. And I was an innocent at the time, and I did not realize how corrupt the police force was or is. 

Declan Hill: How so? 

Michael Jordan: I can be driving down the road.

I might hit down someone, and if I have the right connections, or I might be drunk, a young cop might stop me, and if I have the connections and the money, I can call someone, and I’ll be let go. So, that is what we’re dealing with. And, in the case of the prime suspect, the question is, was he able to influence the case in any way?

You get the impression that efforts were made to crack the case, but at the same time, there were things that happened. Makes you wonder. 

 He was only detained for a few hours. That’s not normal. If you are of a poor background, immediately you are put in a cell. You are detained maybe beyond the time, beyond the same two hours maybe if I might not even know you’re in custody. And as I said, with one suspect, His godfather was he have to go to the station and order his release.

Declan Hill: Now, these two other suspects, do they also fit this profile of wealthy young men

Michael Jordan: yes, they- 

One of them, his relatives run a, what we call a Cambio, foreign exchange. The other one. He had political connections.

And it’s most likely that they all knew one another. They all moved in the same circle. 

Declan Hill: Now, is there a possibility that it’s the opposite? That the police could have, mounted charges or, put these three rich young men in the spotlight? Because it would benefit somebody else.

Michael Jordan: No, no, no. I think they might have been hamstrung somewhere along the line.

 And I’m going back to the DNA. 

As far as I know, and I’m going to try to get an answer to that. None of those suspects, none of them had volunteered any DNA samples to the police. If you could not detain these men for hours at the station, it’s highly improbable that they will volunteer any DNA to you. And back then, frankly, we were novices in terms of understandable DNA. So that was a question that eluded us.

Declan Hill: let’s turn our attention to Monica Reece because I don’t want her in any way to be described in negative terms. This was a young woman who did what many young people do as an act of social life, but was murdered. Was there ever, a test done to see if she was pregnant because, that might have been a motive.

Michael Jordan: I’m glad you brought that up because you’re raising another issue.

One headline, remember, that is not my headline. Reece had sex shortly before then. And that’s bringing me right back to DNA.

 They are saying they took samples of the sperm. But if you take samples of the sperm and you’re not connecting it to an individual, you’re going nowhere.

Declan Hill: Yeah. it’s really disturbing because it’s one of the cases that we’re seeing constantly in these cold cases. Many of the cold cases are young women. Many of them, like Monica Reece, are attractive young women. And you can see, the investigators using their sex lines screen to blame the victims 

Michael jordan: That was done. That was done. 

I understand someone, on a political charter, told a particular policeman, Why you want this case? She is like a nobody.

Declan Hill: Outrageous.


Prime Conversations News Clip:Monica Reece was a security guard attached to Lost Prevention Services, a now defunct security agency. She was an outgoing and normal 19 year old, her mother, Shirley Reece, recalled.

A very serious person, child was smiling, she was very happy. You 

You have interviewed a number of times Monica Reece’s mom, who’s still alive and is still walking around with this question of who killed her daughter. Tell us a little bit about her, please.

Michael Jordan: Well, there was a time when she would express fear for her life. Assisted the police recently. She’s not living in Guyana at the moment. I assisted them in getting a number for her because they said they were reopening the case.

They could not find a file. They had to make another file. 

Declan Hill: So, they lost the file?

Michael Jordan: That’s what they said. which brings another question about DNA.

I am doubtful that Reece’s garments can be found that they were stored properly, so that with the advance in technology, 

Declan Hill: Yes. 

Michael Jordan: one might be able to find out more about who the suspect was. 

Declan Hill: Let me go back to Monica Reece’s mom 

Michael Jordan: She is still, after when I spoke with her, she’s still seeking justice. 

Declan Hill: Yes. 

Michael Jordan: She’s still seeking answers.

And I don’t know if she’ll ever get those answers, or if Kayano will ever get these answers. 

Declan Hill: Are women safe in Guyana? I mean, this was 27 years ago. Has the situation improved? 

Michael Jordan: No, I think it might have gotten, it might be worse.

They are women who have disappeared, never to be seen again. That’s one thing. I don’t think that we, as journalists, maybe follow certain cases as intensely as we should. 

 And I’m saying this without being boastful. Had I not taken up that case, it would have been swept under the carpet by the media because I think we have a way here in which crime It’s seen as the stepchild of journalism politics and other stuff, are the things that journalists are told to focus on, not investigative journalism.

Declan Hill: Michael, thank you for this. I’m going to turn the microphone over to another of my brilliant students.

Mikhael Seepersaud, who’s a brilliant, brilliant forensic science student here at the University of New Haven. She’s produced this. She brought this story to our attention. Mikhael, please ask Michael Jordan some of the questions that I haven’t asked today. Thank you. 

Mikhael Seepersaud: Good day, Mr Jordan. Okay. So, my first question is, do you think if she was portrayed differently in the media, if she was of a richer social class, do you think that this would have been handled differently? 

Michael Jordan: I know. Let’s say that she was high up on the social ladder and the suspect was lower down, then I think it would have been solved because they would have detained him, most likely.

And there would have been more pressure on the police to solve this case.

Mikhael Seepersaud: Do you think that the media over explained over told what was actually going on in the investigation and gave too much to the public?

And do you think this would have affected the results of the case? 

Michael Jordan: I agree in that it became a competition.

 I think there were times when people got scared. For instance, the woman who saw, I think the partial number, I think she was kind of terrified.

Because, they were reports about people being killed, people being poisoned, somebody you saw dying suddenly. Those were bad reports.

Mikhael Seepersaud: Thank you so much. My final question is getting witnesses to confess, was it hard? And also, because this was such a big case, was there an effect of people just coming forward just to get their name in the story? 

Michael Jordan: I don’t think so.

 The bottom line, I think, is that the case should have been solved, the case should have been solved, and I think can still be solved, easily, not with eyewitnesses right now, with DNA evidence. Find the [00:18:00] clothing, if it still exists, because we have a habit here, a history here, with a place of material being badly stored.

If that is stored, surely, send it overseas? Send to the best forensic lab. See if they pick up anything. Yes, we have DNA evidence. Okay, let’s bring in the prime suspect. Again, if you have nothing to hide, submit your DNA. If you don’t want to submit it, do what you guys usually do over there. Get it somehow.

You can’t do it. The will is the will there. It can’t be solved. It can’t be solved. Forget the eyewitnesses. Put the eyewitnesses aside.

Let’s go use the scientific method. Simple. DNA. Get the clothing. Surely something is left there. Reece had sex before death. Hey, if it’s properly stored.

Mikhael Seepersaud: Yes, I completely agree, especially as a forensic science student. I agree that not enough was done with the DNA sampling. So, thank you so much for your, for your take on this.

Michael Jordan: This case, this is not a complex case.

It should have been solved. 

Declan Hill: It should have been solved. Thank you, Michael. 

Michael Jordan:You’re welcome 

Declan Hill: Hey, it’s Declan here. Thank you for your attention on the case of the murder of Monica Reece. We’ve been doing some digging at crime waves and the Guyanese police have told us informally That they’ve reopened the case. So, we’ll keep an eye on it and let you know if there are any new developments. In the meantime, on behalf of the brilliant student producers, Mikhael Seepersaud and Angie Paulus, thank you for your time.

It is very, very much appreciated. If you like this episode, please subscribe or like the program, wherever you are following your podcast. It’s hugely important for us. And if you have any comments, observations on the program, please post them. We read everyone’s notes. And so long as they’re polite, we’ll respond.

Whether it’s positive, negative, whatever we want to get better. So, any critique, so long as they’re not simple, stupid insults are very, very much welcome. Now, please listen to other episodes of crime waves. There are some brilliant investigators featured there on the next episode that we’re going to release.

It’s with a prosecutor who led a brilliant police investigation team. They managed to get convictions in the case of a murdered wife, even though they could never find the body. Stay tuned to CrimeWaves.