Grandson confesses to dumping grandmother’s corpse after he ‘accidentally’ struck her

By Michael Jordan

The detained grandson of 88-year-old Patricia Bovell has admitted to wrapping her corpse in a sheet and dumping her body but is insisting that her death was an accident.

Yonick Gilpin, 27, is claiming that his grandmother collapsed and died after his foot ‘accidentally’ struck her as she sat on the floor of her Lot 57 Russel Street, Charlestown home.

He has been in custody since police found her decomposing remains in an empty lot near her residence last Wednesday, March 22.

Patricia Bovell was reportedly slain last Sunday, March 19.

Gilpin, who is unemployed, had lived with his grandmother and told investigators that she repeatedly accused him of “stealing her things.”

He claimed that he made several complaints to other relatives who told him that “she is old, don’t take her on.”

He told investigators he was in the bottom flat at around 04.00 hrs on Sunday, March 19, when he heard “a tumbling sound” in the top flat, which his grandmother occupied.

But Gilpin claimed that when he went to check, his grandmother shouted, “murder murder, thief thief!”

The grandson said he checked the apartment but did not see any intruders.

He stated at that time, his grandmother was sitting on the floor with her dentures nearby.

Big Smith News Watch has learnt that Gilpin said he was walking past his grandmother, and his left foot “struck her head, and she fell on a rug hitting her head” again and became motionless.

The grandson claimed that he became afraid and wrapped her in a white and blue sheet. After ensuring that he wasn’t being observed, he took the body, still wrapped in the sheet, crossed the street, and placed her on a pile of garbage.

Gilpin said that Yolanda James, who is Mrs. Bovell’s niece, visited at around 21:00 hrs on Sunday and enquired about Mrs. Bovell’s whereabouts.

The grandson told the niece that Mrs. Bovell had complained of feeling unwell and he had taken her to the Georgetown Public Hospital. But checks at the hospital revealed that Mrs. Bovell was not there and relatives could find to no trace of her.

The grandson stuck to his story even after police took him into custody.

Relatives then returned to Russel Street, where Mrs. Bovell’s neighbours revealed that they had heard screams of “murder” on Sunday night.

On Wednesday, March 22, the missing woman’s relatives received reports about a stench coming from an empty lot near her home.

They then went to the area where they found Mrs. Bovell’s decomposing, sheet-wrapped corpse.

An autopsy is likely to be performed today.