MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — Law enforcement in Jamaica’s St James parish has raised urgent alarms over an unprecedented string of fatal attacks targeting women in recent weeks, with senior officers confirming that most of the killings trace back to avoidable interpersonal conflicts between acquaintances and intimate partners. The string of violent deaths began on April 22, when 38-year-old Cora Thompson was gunned down in cold blood while she operated a book sales booth at the Montego Bay New Testament Church of God. One week later, on April 29, the body of 35-year-old Melissa Kerry Samnath, a U.S. national visiting Jamaica for a birthday trip, was discovered; a subsequent post-mortem examination officially ruled her death a homicide. Just two days after Samnath’s body was found, on May 1, neighbors alerted police to screams coming from a Catherine Hall residence, where 38-year-old Kadene Beswick was found dead with multiple stab wounds across her body. Most recently, on May 9, 32-year-old Jassett Blake was fatally shot near Montego Bay’s busy People’s Arcade, marking the fourth woman killed in less than three weeks in the parish. In a press briefing held with reporters on Tuesday evening, Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels, head of the St James Police Division, opened up about the force’s deep distress over the escalating violence targeting women across the region. “We are extremely concerned that such a large share of our recent homicide cases have been women,” Samuels stated, drawing specific attention to the high-profile investigation into Samnath’s killing. The senior officer confirmed that Dean Watson, Samnath’s Jamaican husband, has been named a person of interest in her murder, and law enforcement has launched an intensive manhunt to locate him. What has left the St James police force particularly disturbed, Samuels explained, is the clear pattern linking most of the recent killings to personal conflicts between people who know one another, rather than random acts of violence or gang-related crime. “We are deeply saddened that so many of these incidents grow out of interpersonal disputes, and we are appalled by how many violent acts have been committed against women in our community,” he said. He added that since the beginning of 2024, 12 homicides recorded in St James have stemmed directly from unaddressed personal conflicts, a statistic that underscores how pervasive preventable violence has become in the parish. Despite the alarming surge in killings, Samuels reported that investigators have already secured major breakthroughs in several of the recent cases, offering a small measure of progress amid the crisis. “For multiple active investigations, we have made significant headway,” he said. “In the Catherine Hall case involving Kadene Beswick, the suspect is already in custody and has been formally charged with the young woman’s murder.” Turning back to the high-profile probe into Samnath’s death, Samuels noted that investigators have advanced the case significantly, but are still working to locate Watson, the key person of interest. “We are actively searching for Mr. Watson, and we are asking the Jamaican public to assist our efforts to bring him in for questioning,” Samuels said. The senior commander confirmed that intelligence indicates Watson has been moving between the Montego Bay area and neighboring St Ann parish, and that public tips could be the key to taking him into custody quickly. Beyond ongoing investigations, Samuels used the briefing to issue a urgent public call for proactive intervention before personal conflicts turn deadly. He urged St James residents to contact local police at the first sign that domestic disputes or interpersonal conflicts are escalating into violence, saying that early police intervention is the most effective tool to prevent more unnecessary deaths. “We are asking every member of the St James community: if you become aware of an interpersonal situation, whether it is domestic violence or a one-on-one conflict between two people that is growing tense, reach out to us immediately,” Samuels said. “That allows us to step in early and stop these disputes from turning into murders that tear our community apart.”