A grim discovery was made in San Fernando on Thursday morning, when a volunteer search and rescue team stumbled across the decomposed remains of an elderly woman who appears to have been living in a derelict guard booth. The Hunters Search and Rescue Team (HSRT), a community-focused volunteer group operating in the area, made the find just after 9 a.m. while traveling through the neighborhood near Steve Achaiba Street and Lady Hailes Avenue.
Kesraj Sooknanan, a long-serving HSRT member, told reporters that the team first noticed an unusual odor while driving through the largely vacant compound that once housed the Hatters Steel Orchestra. Following the scent, the group tracked it to a small, locked wooden guard booth on the property. They found the structure was bolted from the inside, and upon prying open the door, they made the grim discovery: the woman’s remains were lying on a thin mattress inside the cramped space, already in an advanced state of decomposition.
Immediately after the discovery, the HSRT alerted local law enforcement, who cordoned off the area and launched a preliminary investigation. Forensic officers and uniformed police documented the scene, where they found clear signs the booth had been used as long-term shelter: clothing hung from strung lines across the ceiling, personal items were scattered across the floor, and a makeshift cooking area complete with a gas cylinder had been set up on the outer compound. Among the woman’s belongings, investigators found a document with the name “Marcia Thomas Singh” printed on it, but police have emphasized that the identity of the deceased has not yet been officially confirmed pending forensic confirmation.
Local community members have shared what little they knew of the woman, who appears to have been unhoused and living in the area for some time. Residents of nearby Embacadere said they did not know her full name, but recognized her as a regular visitor to the community’s public standpipe, where she would collect water for daily use. They described her as a quiet, reserved person who kept to herself. Ravi Ramrattan, another HSRT member who runs an auto-electrical repair garage a short distance from the abandoned booth, added that he frequently saw the woman near the intersection of Independence Avenue and Rushworth Street. Ramrattan noted the woman was always neatly dressed and well-groomed, and estimated she was in her 60s at the time of her death.
A district medical examiner attended the scene to examine the remains, and has ordered the body to be moved to the city morgue, where a full post-mortem examination will be carried out to determine the exact cause and time of death. Police are now appealing to the public for any information that could help identify the woman or locate her next of kin. Anyone with details is asked to contact emergency services via the national emergency lines 555, 999, 911, the San Fernando Police Station directly at 652-1771, or the Hunters Search and Rescue Team at 799-1453.