(CMC) – An autopsy has found that the Dominican-born representative of the Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute (CARDI), whose body was found in a diplomatic vehicle on June 18, died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Police have meantime, released one person that had been assisting their investigations into the death of Gregory Linton, 43 and have not commented since releasing a terse statement last week about the death of the CARDI representative in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Linton, who was based in SVG since 2017, is said to have had diplomatic status and the vehicle in which his body was found had a “CD” registration plate, indicating that it was accorded diplomatic status and privileges.
Police said that at the time of his discovery, the body was “partially decomposed” and found in the passenger seat of the car by a male, who is said to have been a long-time friend of the agriculturalist.
Media reports said that Linton was scheduled to leave St Vincent on the Friday before he was found dead and in a statement, CARDI expressed “unbelievable shock and deep sadness” at his death.
“Prior to his passing Greg was involved in the implementation of the Regional Coconut and Sweet Potato projects in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the Trinidad-based CARICOM agency said in a statement.
CARDI said that the week before his death, Linton participated in a regional coconut workshop in Grenada where he shared his experiences with managing coconut pests.
“Perhaps one of Greg’s most significant achievements was being part of a team which developed a locally-produced lime sulphur base organic post-harvest treatment for dasheen. This treatment allowed farmers to successfully restart export to the lucrative European market,” CARDI said.
“At the time of his passing, he was working with local and international partners to fine-tune this treatment as well as test more environmentally friendly pesticides as post-harvest treatment options.
“Greg was the face of CARDI on multi-agency teams that conducted post-disaster risk assessment for the agricultural sector following natural disasters across CARICOM. He was involved in assessments following the passage of Hurricane Maria (Dominica, 2017), Hurricane Dorian (the Bahamas, 2019), flooding (Guyana, 2021) and the eruption of La Soufrière volcano (St Vincent and the Grenadines, 2021). His leadership on these missions was always efficient and highly commendable, facilitating quick decision-making, to minimise loss of livelihoods and reduced suffering.”
CARDI said Linton was an outstanding researcher and that he will be remembered by his CARDI family as a dedicated, compassionate professional always willing to go the extra mile.
Police have asked members of the public who have information that can help with the investigation to contact them.
