Police are seeking the community’s help to identify a man seen at the garbage dumpsters in Bolongo Bay on St. Thomas on the same day that a Waste Management Authority employee was shot and killed in August.
The V.I. Police Department released a 10-second video of the individual, whom they describe as a “person of interest” in the case, on Monday morning. He is seen approaching a small kiosk and portable bathroom at the bin site on foot, briefly going behind the building, and then running away down the street, appearing to motion to someone out of view of the camera. He also appears to be wearing a mask of the kind used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Waste Management sanitation technician Daryl Hodge, 39, was found lying near one of the dumpsters with multiple gunshot wounds just before 4 p.m. on Aug. 11, according to reports at the time. Emergency medical technicians determined he had no vital signs.
“During further investigation surveillance footage was obtained of a person of interest in this matter. We are seeking the assistance of the public to help us identify this individual,” the VIPD said on Monday.
Hodge was on the job at the time of his death, police said. The bin site was slated to permanently close just five days later, on Aug. 16, according to Waste Management notices, with residents asked to dispose of their household trash at the Brookman Road bin site, the one in Nadir, or at the Bovoni landfill.
Anyone with information is urged to contact 911, the Major Crimes Unit at 340-642-8449 or Crime Stoppers V.I. at 1-800-222-8476 (TIPS).
