Elderly man found dead and tied in bed

It is not often that you hear of criminal activities happening in the village of Crooked Tree…but tonight there is a disturbing report of an elderly man found dead within his house in the village. It is not know what transpired, but residents who discovered the body of Barry Blaney say that he was bound and gagged and placed on his bed. The discovery was made by a neighbor just after twelve this afternoon and police were quick to respond. Duane Moody headed to Crooked Tree and has this story. 

Duane Moody, reporting

Crooked Tree residents say that the man known to them as Barry Blaney was living in the village for approximately nine years before he met his untimely death. But sometime after twelve this afternoon, the body of the elderly man was discovered by a neighbor who went to purchase some groceries from his shop located at an adjacent house in the same yard. Barry was found lying face down on his bed with both his hands and feet tied and a rag and tape over his mouth.

Rudolph Crawford

Rudolph Crawford, Neighbor of Deceased

“She went to the shop, the shop was closed; she thought this gentleman wasn’t feeling too good and she went by the little house that he lives in and she saw this gentleman tied up and it seems like he was dead already. What I did was call the police immediately and they asked me if I am sure that the man is dead. I told them I am not sure but the young lady says ih supposed to dead because he is not moving, ih noh answer or anything. And they asked me to come and check for them and call them back. And I did so and I checked and I saw him on the bed with his two feet tied up together…his two hands and I would think it is the bedding from off the bed that covered his face because you couldn’t see his face.”

Police have yet to confirm the cause of death, but it is speculated that he was murdered sometimes during the course of the night. But according to villagers, Barry was not known to have any enemies in the village and they believe that robbery was the motive.

Rudolph Crawford

“I wouldn’t know. I knew that he had a little petty shop…nothing much. I mean just to keep him going. I would have the belief that they thought he had money.”

Duane Moody

“He wasn’t known to have any enemies or anything like that?”

Rudolph Crawford

“No, he is a very humble man; he is old and he is not a healthy man so far….he struggles with a short wind and always have a shortness.”

Steve Perriott, Former Vice-Chair, Crooked Tree Village Council

“This is why we di say this can’t be nobody from the village—I mean ina my opinion—because everybody in the village know Barry. Barry dah noh wah rich man, Barry dah one ah we weh just di try struggle day to day. But again this is a wakeup call ina our village and this is not something that we take lightly. Barry is a foreigner but he dah one ah we; it’s like one of our own died violently.”

Steve Perriott

According to former vice-chair of the village, Steve Perriott, the incident is a wakeup call and believes that with a new police station being rebuilt, the community will be safe again.

Steve Perriott

“I think the times are changing and I think we in Crooked Tree need to start to change with the times. We have a new police station that is going tob e activated soon and I wanna say thanks for that. I hope that we use this opportunity to try to institute a neighborhood watch or something to that effect. We started talking about that, but I think we really need to beucase this is the second incident in Crooked Tree like this. But we want to thank the police for their quick response because they did come quickly. And we hope that they do resolve this because we can’t have this going on in Crooked Tree, not at all.”

Several young men who live within the village were picked up by police and taken into custody for questioning. Duane Moody for News Five.