By Gemma Handy
Parents of missing teenager Kevin Millet Junior are due to provide DNA samples to police tomorrow to help identify a body found near the Diamonds Estate on Monday.
The distraught family was yesterday warned to prepare for the worst after the partially decomposed body was discovered less than a mile from where a car the 18-year-old was renting was found burnt out near Potworks Dam on March 18.
Millet, of Gray’s Farm, has not been since that day more than three months ago.
Sources told Observer that clothing found with the body is believed to belong to Millet.
Police spokesman Inspector Frankie Thomas said the force was continuing investigations into the remains found.
“Without proper forensic examination being done, among other things, the police cannot officially determine whose remains they are at this stage,” he said.
“However, certain steps are being taken by the police to guide us further in our investigations. We have also received professional confirmation that the remains are male,” Inspector Thomas added.
Millet’s family could face a lengthy wait for official answers.
Devastated relatives of autistic teen Shamar Harrigan are still waiting to find out if a body discovered more than six months ago is that of the missing 19-year-old.
Harrigan has not been seen since he left his Willikies home on November 14 last year.
On December 7 human remains were found near Willikies salt pond, along with clothes, shoes and a backpack that Harrigan was last seen wearing.
Harrigan’s case touched the nation and sparked a series of searches for the non-verbal youngster by both land and air.
It also once again brought into sharp focus the need for Antigua and Barbuda to have its own forensics lab in order to expedite the analysis of DNA samples which currently must be sent overseas.
Another family from Nut Grove was forced to wait an agonising 11 months for confirmation that a body found after a catastrophic fire in January 2022 was that of their missing child.
Yesterday, Harrigan’s sister Shauntelle Barton told Observer the family was struggling with the wait but fighting on.
Public Safety Minister Steadroy Benjamin recently said plans to create a local forensics lab were progressing and that it could be established within a month.
