Atlanta doctor Jessica Colker identified as woman murdered in Grenada
The US Embassy confirmed the death of an American woman on Monday in Grenada’s capital St. George as police claim that a local man has been detained in connection to the brutal crime.
Jessica Colker, 39, is an anesthesiologist from Atlanta who was violently attacked, raped and murdered on the first day of her vacation with her husband.
Colker was found dead on a deserted stretch of beach on Sunday near to the exclusive, La Sagesse resort. Police say the man was “armed with a cutlass” and that her husband, Dr. Brian Melito, 62, did survive the attack.
Police claimed they had a suspect and that he is an ex convict, recently released from prison.
Police sources on the Caribbean island told MTV News Grenada that the man being questioned in relation to Colker’s death is David Martin Benjamin.
Benjamin turned himself in voluntarily to a police station in Grenada on the morning of January 25.
Head of the Community Relations Division of the Grenada Police Force, Sylvan McIntyre, told the media, “What I can tell you now is that he is in custody. He was not captured, but he turned himself in and our investigations will continue, as we believe he can assist us with our investigations into the incident.”
Colker is a registered pediatric anesthesiologist with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Her LinkedIn page offers little information about her education or professional experience. On his page, Brian Melito details his history in medicine and says that he no longer works in “clinical confines” and now would rather “get something done.”