Decomposing body of murdered 13-year-old boy found in river

Six days after he went missing, the body of 13-year-old Leonard Archibald, has been found.

In a statement this afternoon, the Guyana Police Force announced that the murdered teen’s body was found on a mudflat at Korthberaadt River, which is located about three miles from Brothers Village, East Bank Berbice.

The teen was reported missing last Sunday when he never returned from a bicycle ride through Sisters village to meet his siblings.

Two men have since been arrested and have admitted to sodomising and murdering the teen after he became unconscious from the sexual assault.

One of the men, led Police to a section of the Berbice river, where he said he dumped the boy’s lifeless body. The bicycle that the lad was last seen riding was found yesterday, but it was not until this afternoon that his body was located after investigators widened their search in the area.

The murder of the teen and the confession by the two men has sent shockwaves throughout the Berbice community and the rest of the country.

Persons in the area where the teen had been last seen, reported that they had heard screams coming from a house in the area but did not bother to investigate. It is believed that it was the same house where the boy was sexually assaulted and murdered.

One of the men, who has confessed to the murder, was fingered a few years ago in the abduction and sexual assault of another teen in the same community. The outcome of that investigation is unclear.

13-year-old Leonard Archibald has been described by family members and relatives as “a good youth”, who was the average 13-year-old. On the day that he disappeared, he had spent the afternoon at a birthday celebration for his father. It was the last time that his parents saw him alive.