For the second time in six weeks, police are investigating a mysterious death on St. John, the body of a second unidentified white man found last week floating in the water near the National Park Visitors Center.
The discovery was made March 21, six weeks after the body of another man was found floating in Cruz Bay Creek – directly across from the visitor’s center – on Feb. 14. It was also the third report where police were summoned to a death on St. John since then.
One, reported from Coral Bay near Kings Hill Road, was classified as a suicide. So far, there has been no report from the autopsy on the first victim, 43-year-old Deon Stevens.
In the latest incident, police received an early morning report of a body floating in the water near the visitor’s center.
“The white male was removed from the water by members of the St. John Rescue Unit and the Medical Examiner’s office,” said VIPD Public Information Officer Glen Dratte.
A spokesman for the Virgin Islands Police Department said as of Tuesday, authorities were still unable to identify the victim.
“This case is presently under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Bureau,” Dratte said.
Cruz Bay Creek is not considered a swimming area. For more than 20 years it has been used as a berthing area for ferries from the British Virgin Islands, fishing charters picking up passengers and excursion vessels dropping off day trippers. Local boaters used the creek for dinghy docking and National Park Service rangers tie up patrol boats. St. John’s only marine fuel station is situated at the mouth of the creek.
So the appearance of two dead bodies in the creek over six weeks is unusual.
The VIPD investigation bureau has active cases for both Stevens and the unidentified body from March 21.
But Dratte said Medical Examiner Francisco Landron is on vacation and the findings from the Stevens autopsy has not been released yet six weeks after the event.