Police have confirmed that the initial medical opinion on the cause of toddler Alissady Azalea Powell’s death was incorrect, with new forensic evidence finding the child was strangled in 2022. The findings prompted investigators to arrest three people on Wednesday.
However, investigators insisted that the initial autopsy conclusion did not lead to delays in the case, which Police Commissioner Kurt Walton described as “complex”.
The initial finding had reportedly listed the 2-year-old child’s death as drowning. The child’s mother contested this, and she hired a forensic pathologist to relook at how her daughter died.
Superintendent Peter Lansdown, who has strategic oversight of the case, told journalists Thursday morning that the new finding, which was delivered in a report from UK forensic pathologist Dr. Brett Lockyer, was “ballpark consistent” with the independent forensic report commissioned by Alissady’s mother Yvané Dixon-Powell in April last year.
“The final result from our pathologist is an unnatural death, not consistent with drowning,” Lansdown said, adding that the most recent medical findings on the child’s cause of death were “compression of the neck, smothering or strangulation”.
He said it was “about two months ago” that police, after various experts and laboratories had conducted their work, “got the final reports of homicide murder”.
One month ago, on 13 Nov., the Compass asked police for an update on the status of the investigation, including whether the case was being treated as a homicide as indicated in the forensic investigation commissioned by the mother.
In response, a police spokesperson told us on 20 Nov. that the RCIPS had engaged forensic experts to review the “ongoing” case, but did not indicate their work had been completed at that time, nor that they had already determined the toddler had been murdered.
“Investigators are analyzing this work, and on completion will determine appropriate next steps. The RCIPS understands the high level of ongoing community interest in this case, and will share any developments as they are established,” police said on 20 Nov.
Protracted investigation
A 32-year-old woman, a 33-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman, all of whom reside in Bodden Town, were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder – two years and five months after the little girl’s body was found on the ironshore on the southern coast of Cayman Brac.
Walton said police would not disclose the names of the three suspects at this stage, “as it is not our policy to do so. The investigation still has a long ways to go and we will submit the file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration”.
The Compass is aware of the identities of those arrested, but as per our newspaper’s policy, is not naming them until or unless they are charged.
Alissady, 2, was reported missing from her home on 5:15am on 26 July 2022 and she was found around 9:30am that same morning.
Lansdown told reporters on Thursday that police believe the child was killed in the early hours of that day.
Walton described the lengthy investigation as “tedious and protracted”, with a number of experts being brought in to assist with the case.
At least 10 medical and forensic experts were involved, including paediatric forensic pathologists and child death investigators.
“ This was crucial because of the complexity surrounding the investigation,” Walton said, adding that he kept his promise that “no expense” was spared in “pursuit of justice for Alissady”.
He declined, however, to say how much the exercise cost.
Lansdown said a few months after the initial investigation, UK child death expert Russell Wate was commissioned in the case.
“He came over and he reviewed the investigation,” Lansdown said. “He was satisfied it was a thorough and deep investigation. He made recommendations. We’d already started commissioning other medical experts to review the findings and he facilitated some of those experts and briefed them, and he’s been assisting the investigation for the last year and a half.”
He said a local coroner, who flew to the Brac in August 2022, conducted the post mortem there.
“The mother commissioned her report in April 2023. We commissioned Dr. Wate and independent pathology in October 2023. It’s taken most of 2023 and 2024 for five specific experts and other laboratories to come back with their results and conduct their investigations. About two months ago, we got the final reports of homicide murder,” he said.
Child was dead when she entered the water
Walton, speaking at a media briefing on the case on Thursday morning at police headquarters in George Town, said Alissady was already dead when she entered the water near the coastline a short distance from her Cayman Brac home.
A sombre-looking Walton, when asked about the impact of the case and the recent pathology findings, said that, as a police officer, “when you see a report like this, it really strikes straight to your heart”.
“Speaking personally, humans are capable of anything and it’s unfortunate that we are sat here today speaking about a situation where we’ve got a young child, who, for all intents and purposes, and from a report that we are now in possession of, was deliberately killed … That’s based on the report we’ve got. It’s unfortunate,” Walton said.
The commissioner declined to go further into the conflicting pathological findings.
He said, however, that the new report “has led us in a certain direction. As a result of the contents of that report, it has led us to arrest three individuals.”
Cayman Brac Area Commander Malcolm Kay added that, after the initial post mortem, an investigation review was done and “subject matter experts” were brought in to investigate further.
Lansdown said that children and babies die differently from adults and there are specialist experts to look into their cause of deaths.
“We’ve done various other laboratory tests, toxicology and chemistry and things like that. So it’s just taken a very long time to get all of the experts lined up,” he added.
Varying offences
Lansdown said when the latest pathology report presented new evidence two months ago, this triggered police to shift gears from an “unexplained death” investigation to a murder inquiry.
The three suspects, he said, remained in custody Thursday morning, but were expected to be bailed as investigations continue.
Walton told reporters that those individuals were the last people with the child, but this was as much as he would disclose about them.
Lansdown said the three were arrested initially on suspicion of murder and separate offences are also being considered.
“All three persons were arrested for the murder of Alissady, for child neglect and for accessory after the fact – effectively disposing of the body. All those offences are under investigation for all three. They may have differing roles. They may have joint responsibility, but that’s the reason we arrest, to investigate,” he said.
Lansdown added that this is also why police are not going to name the suspects involved.
“We’re not apportioning in blame or responsibility. We’re arresting on suspicion,” he added.
The senior officers also declined to address any potential motive behind the child’s death.
“We’ve explored a number of possibilities,” Lansdown said. “We’ve got no definitive. We’ve got information, we can’t prove that at the moment,” he said, adding that he will not speculate on the matter.
Walton added that anything further in the case will be brought up in either in a coroner’s inquest or a criminal court based on directions from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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