In the quiet community of Longwood, near Santa Cruz in Jamaica’s St Elizabeth parish, a grisly double homicide has uncovered links between the killings and a long-running, profitable criminal enterprise focused on vehicle theft. Police investigations have identified one of the two men found dead at a local auto mart on Sunday as Romele Johnson, 34, a documented repeat offender whom authorities describe as a key leader of a cross-parish car stealing ring that trafficked stolen vehicles and their parted-out components across the island.
The second victim is 64-year-old Melvin Blythe, a well-known local businessman who owned and operated the auto mart where the bodies were discovered. In the hours following the discovery of the bodies, detectives worked methodically to comb every inch of the business property, reconstructing the timeline of the violence that claimed both men’s lives.
Based on witness accounts from nearby residents who reported hearing loud blasts, consistent with gunfire, around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, law enforcement has developed a working theory of the confrontation. Investigators say that in recent months, Blythe had adopted a routine of staying overnight at his auto mart after closing, a precaution he took to guard his business against rising theft activity in the area. A licensed firearm holder, Blythe left his home for the auto mart on Saturday night, ahead of the fatal encounter.
Authorities allege Johnson entered the auto mart’s compound with the intent to strip vehicles for valuable parts that the theft ring would later resell. When detectives processed the crime scene, they recovered a bag of tools intended for vehicle disassembly and found a headlight already removed from one car on the lot. Investigators also noted that the grille gate to an on-site building was left open, with no evidence of forced entry, suggesting Johnson may have had access to or prior knowledge of the property layout.
Per police theory, Blythe exited the building after becoming aware of the intruder, confronted Johnson, and a violent struggle erupted that left both men shot dead. Hours later, when Blythe’s wife grew concerned after repeated calls to his mobile phone went unanswered, she traveled to the auto mart to check on him, where she made the grim discovery of her husband’s body shortly after 5:00 p.m. Sunday.
After being contacted by Blythe’s wife, responding officers followed a trail of blood that led over a 10-foot perimeter wall, where they found Johnson’s body with Blythe’s licensed firearm still in his vicinity. Both remains have been moved to a public morgue, where autopsies and official ballistics testing are pending to confirm the sequence of gunfire and cause of death for both men.
A senior police source familiar with the investigation confirmed that Johnson had a lengthy criminal history tied to theft. Most recently, Johnson was free on bail after being arrested and charged in connection with a December 2024 incident in Westmoreland, where officers caught him and two associates in possession of a stolen motor vehicle. As recently as September 2025, Johnson was linked to the theft of a Toyota Voxy in Portsea, located near Junction in St Elizabeth. During that investigation, Johnson’s accomplice Mark Allen Snr—known locally as “German”—was killed in a gunfight with police during a high-speed chase between the St Elizabeth communities of Malvern and Southampton, while Johnson managed to escape capture. Johnson had previously served a six-month sentence of hard labor at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre after pleading guilty to charges of shop breaking and larceny in Clarendon, and was released from custody in 2019.