Cops probing suspected murder-suicide

Instead of taking a flight abroad yesterday, Morvine Thompson Palmer was transported out of her residence by Tranquility Funeral Home - the victim of a suspected murder-suicide.

The bodies of 53-year-old Thompson Palmer and her husband, 45-year-old Mason Peat Palmer, were found at their Dorado Drive, Harbour View, St Andrew, home. An elderly resident said she saw the husband on Monday.

"Mi never know me woulda hear this today. Mi a expect fi pass and see the two a dem. Most evening you will pass and see them because she is a JP and always a talk to people," she said. It is alleged that the couple, who were married for about 20 years, were going through a divorce.

"Them have them on and off. Them used to live good but dem a go through a divorce now so both a dem a do what dem want do," said one neighbour. A woman who said she was a friend, said Thompson Palmer was a deacon at church, who always preached peace.

"A nuff people know her as a realtor cause a nuff house she sell," she said, while another person described the unusual silence at their home before the discovery.

"The shutter to the garage is always closed. A nuff people pass and see it open. Mi a say 'A how dis open?' And mi start call around and ask because I know she did fi leave go foreign today. She go hairdresser go do her hair last night (Monday)," the person said.

Neighbours said the husband, who worked in construction, kept mostly to himself.

"The man nuh really talk to the people dem inna the community because him shame. People know wah a gwaan and it's like everybody tek the woman side," the person claimed.

Conversations on the scene tried to make sense of what happened as one of the officers on the scene passed by with a knife in a paper bag.

"People woulda talk the same thing bout the man say him peaceful, him is not a bad person to people and although them inna worries you wouldn't know. If dem cuss or fight a only the close people coulda tell you," one man said. "At the face of everything them nuh air out things publicly because she big inna church."