St. Vincent And The Grenadines National Indicted In 10-Year-Old NYC Murder

Accused Vernon Primus. (IWN image)

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, BROOKLYN, NY, Thurs. June 16, 2016: A St. Vincent & The Grenadines national who has long been suspected in the murder of a 16-year-old Brooklyn, NY high school student was yesterday indicted by the Brooklyn District Attorney.

Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson, together with New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, on Wednesday announced the unsealing of a murder indictment charging Veron Primus with the June 2006 murder of Brooklyn high school student Chanel Petro-Nixon.

He has been indicted on one count of second-degree murder and will be arraigned following his extradition from St. Vincent. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

An extradition request is set to be submitted to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines government for Primus, 29, formerly of 849 Lincoln Place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, Chanel Petro-Nixon, 16, was last seen alive on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 18, 2006 when she left her parents’ Bedford-Stuyvesant home to visit with a friend. Petro-Nixon stated that she would be meeting the defendant, Veron Primus, who was three years older than her at the time, the investigation revealed.

Petro-Nixon was reported missing on Monday, June 19, 2006 when she still had not returned home.

On June 22, 2006, the victim’s body was found in a trash bag on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights. She had been strangled. A local resident discovered the body after Department of Sanitation workers declined to remove the bag because the trash was oversized, according to the investigation.

Primus was deported to the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2015.

“Ten years ago a promising young woman’s life was tragically taken, leaving her family and the community searching for answers. My office remained steadfast in our search for justice and with this indictment, we will ensure that the defendant is brought back to Brooklyn and held accountable for the death of Chanel Petro-Nixon,” commented District Attorney Thompson.

The interest in Primus resurfaced after Mewanah Hadaway was rescued on April 15th from a mountain home on St. Vincent and the Grenadines and told investigators that Primus locked her in a wooden enclosure for three months and repeatedly raped and threatened her. She also reportedly told detectives he  showed her a 2006 news clipping from the Petro-Nixon case, according to Crime Watch Daily’s Mary Murphy.

Primus is already facing a murder charge on the island for the November 2015 fatal stabbing of real estate agent, Sharleen Greaves and kidnapping charges for Mewanah Hadaway.