WTJX-TV Channel 12’s new monthly series profiling unsolved murders in the territory continues this Thursday, December 22, featuring three more cases. Episode three of Virgin Islands Case Files takes a closer look at the homicides of Preston Francis on St. Thomas, Rosalie Figueroa on St. Croix, and Robert O’Connor III on St. Croix.
Preston Francis, 32, was found shot to death in his Estate Contant apartment three days before Christmas of 2010. “He was a very friendly person, so to understand why he was killed like that, shot in the head, it’s kind of hard,” said Virgin Islands Police Sergeant Dwight Griffith, the lead investigator on the case.
Rosalie Figueroa was reported missing on July 3, 2013, and the 17-year-old high school student was found dead the next day in the swimming pool of a vacant home on St. Croix. “We’re at a wall right now, we’re trying to get new information,” said Virgin Islands Police Lieutenant Naomi Joseph. “We’re hoping that this exposure would allow people to come forward and fill in some of the blanks.”
Known to his friends and family as Bucky, 35-year-old Robert O’Connor III was shot multiple times, mutilated, and left in the middle of the road on December 9, 2003. “It’s important for the community on a whole to feel aggrieved about this, to have a problem with this type of vigilantism, and for us to deal with it and stop it,” Lieutenant Joseph said. Anyone with information about these three cases is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-TIPS. Virgin Islands Case Files is supported by the Virgin Islands Police Department to help address the high number of unsolved murders in the territory. The show serves as a call to action for residents to come forward with new information that could help detectives close longstanding homicide cases.
Episode three of Virgin Islands Case Files airs Thursday, December 22, at 8:30 p.m. and repeats on Saturday, December 24, at 9:00 p.m. on WTJX-TV Channel 12, on the WTJX app, and by localizing WTJX on the PBS Video app which is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO.