tidings
Relatives believe the skeletal remains found in Siparia on Friday belong to Orville Ashley Richards, who has been missing since June. –
The family of missing pensioner Orville “Ashley” Richards are convinced the skeletal remains found last Friday on Deoraj Trace, off Penal Quinam Road, are his.
His family members said clothes found near the remains matched the clothes Richards was wearing on June 12 when he left his home on Penal Quinam Road in Mendez Village. They are almost 100 percent sure the remains are his.
But the family will have to wait for the lengthy process of DNA testing to determine the identity and then the cause of death.
Richards, 60, was a father of three daughters. He was living with his common-law wife Lenore George, who reported him missing
Family members, who did not want to be identified, said he was afraid of being poisoned and had identified someone he said wanted to kill him.
After a mental breakdown Richards suffered after his father died in 2012, he was sent to a psychiatric ward and given medication that they claimed “may have played with his mind”.
A relative said: “The police were often called to his house because he locked himself in with a knife while pretending that someone wanted to kill him. Last November he stopped eating anything but Crix biscuits because he said someone was trying to poison him.
“Because of this story, the police did not take the threats seriously, maintaining the perception that he was crazy.”
But the family believes he was murdered.
“It is strange that the body was found in an area that the Hunters’ Association combed without success, immediately after his disappearance.”
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That search was suspended, but hunters from the area, who also belong to the association, discovered the remains at a previously searched site four months later.
“What’s bothering us now is how did he get there after the hunters did so much searching in that area and found nothing? The body was found off the road leading to a sawmill and house.
“Tell me, if that body has been there all along, no one has come across it? Nobody smelled anything? I remember when a dog died in the area last year, the smell was horrible.
“This thing is so mysterious. It is clear that the body was moved to this location because he was not one to roam the bush. If he wanted to go somewhere, he would jump into his vehicle and go.”
The relative said that while it was not the outcome they were hoping for, they are sad that Richards was not found alive, but happy that his remains were found so that there could be some closure.
