18 days later, cops name woman found dead at sea

Eighteen days after a woman was found dead at sea and a man was reported missing, police disclosed the woman’s name on Monday but said they still don’t know the man’s identity.

The woman, who was not resident in the Virgin Islands, was 33-year-old Dominican Republic national Diana Carolina Castillo Castillo, according to Police Information Officer Akia Thomas-Nero.

Ms. Castillo’s body was found after 10 p.m. on the night of Sept. 5, when police said a “male” called 911 from a vessel travelling from Jost Van Dyke that had begun taking on water, police said in a short press release at the time.

In response, marine police officers and Virgin Islands Search and Rescue “immediately” launched a “coordinated search operation” in the area, according to the release.

“During the search, the partially submerged vessel and, tragically, the body of a young woman was found,” the release stated. “Despite extensive efforts, the male individual was not found.”

The vessel and the woman were transported to the VI Law Enforcement Marine Base at Road Reef, where the woman was officially pronounced dead.

“The [police] and partner agencies will continue searching in the area for the missing individual,” the release stated at the time.

Tight-lipped

For days after that, police stayed tight-lipped on the incident.

Ms. Thomas-Nero told the Beacon on Sept. 11 that police knew the identity of the woman but had “to make sure a family member confirms it” before releasing it publicly.

She added at the time that she couldn’t confirm or deny if police knew the identity of the man.

Police had not provided further information until Monday, when Ms. Thomas-Nero disclosed the woman’s name and confirmed for the first time that police didn’t know the man’s identity.

Other deaths

In response to Beacon queries about other deaths that occurred over the past year and a half, Ms. Thomas-Nero also provided other names for the first time.

The woman found dead after a New Year’s Day house fire this year in Kingstown was Judy Morgan, a belonger, according to the information officer.

A partially decomposed body found in an abandoned building on upper Main Street on the afternoon of Aug. 1, 2023, was identified as Brian Rhymer, a 54-year-old Virgin Islander, she said.

A body found in a burned house in the Red Bay area of East End on June 11, 2023, was identified as Delanie Brown, a Virgin Islander whose age police do not know, according to Ms. Thomas-Nero.

She added that police still do not know the identity of a man who died after they received a report that he was “behaving erratically” at Village Cay in the early hours of Oct. 13, 2023.