The Jamaica Constabulary Force has captured a man who has been on the run since being named a person of interest in the death of popular social media influencer Aneka ‘Slickiana’ Townsend.
According to the JCF on Wednesday (Nov 2), Rushane Patterson, called ‘Chizzie,’ was captured at a guest house in Hanover around 1 AM. Patterson was first named a person of interest in the death of Townsend on October 22, a day after her body was found floating at a beach in St. James.
Reports by the JCF said that Patterson had hired an attorney and had told the police that he would turn himself in on Tuesday, October 25th. However, Patterson continuously eluded the police. In a press conference on Monday, November 1, Senior Superintendent Fitz Bailey shared that a lawyer had again contacted him to say that Patterson would turn himself in on Thursday, November 3.
In the week that Patterson was on the lam, there were speculations that he had left Jamaica to go to Atlanta. SSP Bailey, however, said that flight manifestos showed that Patterson did not leave the island. Patterson, who is from the community of Prosper in Hanover, is said to be known to the murder victim, and there are unconfirmed reports that he was the last person she was seen with.
Police also named him a person of interest after investigations led to officers seizing a motor vehicle. The JCF has not revealed details about the motor car and how it ties into the current case, if at all. In the week that Patterson kept himself hidden from authorities, social media activists have also unearthed many accounts from women claiming to have been allegedly raped by Patterson or suffering violence at his hand.
Patterson also has a public criminal record showing that he is currently before the court for murder, attempted murder, and rape charges. It’s unclear the details of this case.
There is also another case stemming from 2013 in which Patterson was accused of murder and rape. He eventually walked free as the chief witness, the rape victim who survived after her throat was slashed and left to die, did not show up to the court to testify against him.
Details of that case are that Patterson allegedly abducted and raped a woman and killed her partner. Prosecutors claimed that the rape victim and her partner Andre Roberts were walking along Cargill Avenue in St. Andrew around 4 AM when they were accosted by men in a motor vehicle.
Roberts, who was placed in the trunk of the car, was killed after attempting to escape from the moving vehicle while the woman was taken to another location where she was raped before her throat was slashed. The victim eventually survived and reported the incident to the police.
