Three people arrested over 2022 death of toddler

(CNS): Two women, aged 32 and 26, and a 33-year-old man, all living in Bodden Town, have been arrested on suspicion of murdering two-year-old Alissady Powell, whose body was found on the ironshore in Cayman Brac two and half years ago. Police said the arrests were made early this morning, Wednesday, 11 December, and all three people are currently being held at the detention centre in Fairbanks.

CNS understands that at least one of the individuals arrested is a close relative of the child.

The little girl’s body was found on the ironshore on South Side East in Cayman Brac, more than one and a half miles from her home, around four hours after her mother reported her missing very early on the morning of 26 July. From the beginning of the inquiry, the family claimed the child was murdered and did not believe it was, as first concluded, a water-related death.

These are the first arrests to be made in the case and come more than a year and a half after the former police commissioner brought in a specialist team from the UK in May 2023 to review the case. This came after an internal RCIPS review of the inquiry. But neither the autopsy nor the results of that review have ever been made public.

The mother of the child, Yvane Dixon-Powell, also hired a private investigator to find out what happened to her child before the arrival of the UK police, as she believed the RCIPS had given up on the case.

Police have not yet said if today’s arrests were related to the investigation conducted by the external team. No other details have been released, but the RCIPS has scheduled a press conference for Thursday morning.