The tranquillity of Exchange Hill, St Michael was shattered Friday morning as a swarm of police officers descended upon the small village adjacent to Bibby’s Lane, following a lead that a man missing since Saturday might be dead at the base of a 30-foot well.
Police would not confirm the identity of the man in the well, which was found hours after a missing person’s report was issued for Mitchell Anderson Nicholls, 28, the son of renowned baker McDonald Nicholls who died in January.
“I can confirm that, having conducted certain investigations, we responded to this area at Exchange Hill, St Michael at 8:40 a.m, where we had information that there may have been a body in a well,” Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police Frederick Catwell told reporters. “On arrival, we did confirm [this] and with the assistance of the Barbados Fire Service and personnel from the Barbados Defence Force, we were able to retrieve a body from a well. This body is the body of an adult male and it was retrieved from the well about 12:15 p.m. today.”
Regarding the victim’s identity, Catwell refrained from providing details but hinted at ongoing investigations into missing individuals, suggesting a possible link between the recovered body and these cases.
“I don’t want to give you at this time any investigative information; however, I would confirm that it is the body of a male and we are conducting certain investigations into missing persons and there is a suspicion that this body is one of these missing persons,” he said.
Barbados Fire Service Station Officer Roger Bourne explained that following the report of someone in the well, a complex operation had to be undertaken, which took into account the uncertainties of the well’s conditions and safety precautions. The whole process, from set up to retrieval, took about an hour and a half of preparation.
Mitchell Nicholls’ relatives on the scene.
“Lieutenant Rudolph Morris of the Barbados Defence Force was the person who would have retrieved the body from the well,” he said. “[The retrieval] is always a difficult process dealing with a well, not knowing if it is secure, what is coming from the well, if there are any gasses and stuff like that. So we made sure that we used all of the proper equipment like self-breathing apparatus, ropes harnesses and the required suits so that the person going into the well could be safe going into the well and safe coming out of the well.
“We did take all precautions and we take our time too, because it is a risk you are taking, so you make sure that everything is in place before you do this operation. I would say that it is about an hour and a half in terms of preparing equipment, securing equipment and then prepping the individual to go into the well because it is something that you have to be mentally prepared for to go into this well, especially if you are dealing with a person who has been missing for a length of time they were allegedly missing.”
Earlier, a burnt-out vehicle was discovered in a cart road near Exchange, which is not far from where the body was pulled from the well.
However, Communications and Public Affairs Officer of the Barbados Police Service Inspector Rodney Inniss said: “We are still doing our investigation with regards to the car that was discovered burnt. We are still doing our investigations before we make any connections. We don’t want to give misleading information, we want to give factual information. So as soon as my investigators can connect the dots and we have some factual evidence, we will come to you with what we have.”
The missing Nicholls was understood to have taken over running the family business, Nicholls Bakery, at Bibby’s Lane.
Communications and Public Affairs Officer of the Barbados Police Service Inspector Rodney Inniss.
The resident of West Coast Apartments Hotel, Pond Bottom, Westmoreland, St James, was last seen two days before Christmas by his adopted mother Cheryl Nicholls, police said. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a plaid colour shirt and khaki long pants, and was also driving his black Suzuki Baleno motor car.
Only last month, Nicholls was conferred with the Silver Trident of Excellence in the Independence Honours. He was honoured for his design of academic and national insignia, including the Order of Freedom of Barbados in 2019.
Throughout the day, Exchange Hill buzzed with speculation about the person’s identity and memories of Nicholls, who they said had positively affected their lives by offering jobs in the bakery and being genuinely kindhearted.
Ronald Thompson, the owner of RT Snack Bar, expressed concern that Nicholls was missing, describing him as a cool guy who would look out for those in the neighbourhood, giving them jobs.
Another described him as “a genuine person” and said: “This situation got me feeling so weak. Before him, nobody in Bibby’s Lane couldn’t get any work at the bakery, none of them. When Mitchell came, he gave them work, he employ them.”
One lady recounted seeing Nicholls on Saturday night – the night he disappeared.
“Saturday night, he was out by me. He buy rum, he buy drinks, he buy everything fuh the guys out here…. Dat man is a good man. He does come in the neighbourhood and if you want something, bam – you have it. I say ‘bring a cake fuh me’, he bring it. He used to give dem everything, even get work duh dem down at the bakery,” she recalled.
In the meantime, Inniss has appealed to the public for any information regarding the discovery of the body and Nicholls’ disappearance, urging them to contact the police department with relevant details.
“We are appealing to the public that if they know anything that is connected to what is now an unnatural death investigation to contact the police department at 430-7130/7137 or police emergency 211,” he said. (RG)
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