Almost 27 years after mother-of-seven Eva Glee Ebanks was killed under suspicious circumstances on Cayman Brac, a 76-year-old man has been arrested for her alleged murder.
According to police, the man was arrested on Cayman Brac on Thursday morning on suspicion of murder in relation to the death of the 35-year-old mother who was killed when she was struck by a vehicle on 16 Oct. 1997.
“This arrest follows a reopened investigation by the RCIPS Serious Crime Review Team, which has taken place over the past three years,” the RCIPS told the Compass.
Ebanks’s daughter Deseray McLean, in a comment to the Compass following the arrest, said, “I’m grateful that my mom has not been forgotten. We, her children and her family, will continue to fight for her. The arrest is good news for the family and we trust in God and his timing and we have to trust that justice will prevail.”
Ebanks’ death was one of the cases featured in the Cayman Compass special investigative series Cold Case Files, which was conducted in partnership with the RCIPS. As a result of the series, the police were able to gather additional information from witnesses for some of the cases.
In one such case highlighted by the series, a man allegedly connected to the murder of father-of-one Justin Dilly Manderson was arrested nearly seven years after the 1 Oct. 2016 shooting.
The suspect in the Ebanks’ case, who marked his birthday on Wednesday, has been released on bail with conditions as the investigation continues.
The Compass does not report names of suspects until official charges are laid.
The investigation in Ebanks’ case – codenamed Operation Lavender – has been led by Detective Constable Mike Lewis.
Police reopened the case after acting on new information and were investigating the possibility that the circumstances might not be as they first seemed.
At a 1999 coroner’s inquest into her death the jury returned an ‘open verdict’, meaning the evidence they heard was insufficient to determine the cause.
Her family always believed there was something more sinister behind her untimely death.
A total of 18 witnesses testified in that case. The inquest determined that Ebanks died around 4am on 16 Oct. 1997 at Faith Hospital from severe loss of blood after injuries sustained in the incident.
Pathologist Dr. John Obafunwa had itemised 53 injuries, internal and external, that Ebanks had sustained.
Giving details of the fatal incident in an earlier interview with the Compass, Lewis said Ebanks had got out of the moving car, driven by a “boyfriend or ex-boyfriend at the time”, and was struck by another vehicle and dragged along the road.
He said forensic evidence indicates that she may have been hit twice on the night she died.
A number of allegations, including domestic abuse, had been made in the case.
Anyone with information relating to Eva Ebanks’ death or any of the cases in the Compass Cold Case series can call the Serious Crime Review team confidential tip line at 649-2930.
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If this goes to trial I hope it will be tried by a judge and not a Jury.