Police Commissioner Verne Garde has confirmed that ballistic evidence linked to the 2018 killing of Kimberly De Leon is missing and is now the subject of a separate investigation.
Speaking at a press conference on September 25, Garde said the exhibits he previously disclosed as unaccounted for have still not been located. He explained that while the case file remains with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, investigators are now examining how crucial ballistic results went missing.
“We looked at all the evidence in the matter,” Garde said. “We have been confronted with a situation where the ballistic items that were intercepted was [sic] sent for testing and subsequent to that, we are unable to put our hand on that particular piece of exhibit, which is the ballistic results. So, we are now doing an investigation in and around that.”
Garde stressed his commitment to transparency, saying, “As commissioner of police, I want to be a truthful commissioner of police. I want to be one that will say what the situation is as it arises.”
Pressed by St. Lucia Times’ Kherim Nelson on ongoing investigation delays, Garde said, “You know, when you’re doing investigations you have leads and it will not be proper for me to say certain things in regard to that.”
He added: “I’m committed to dealing with every single law enforcement matter in Saint Lucia and that one, I am committed to following through.”
De Leon, a mother of two and the wife of police officer Leozandrae De Leon, was found shot dead at her Morne Fortune home on October 29, 2018. Her murder remains unsolved, a fact that has fuelled years of public frustration and scrutiny of police handling of the case.
The revelation that missing evidence has itself become the subject of an investigation adds to a series of setbacks that have dogged the case since 2018.
