FREDERIKSTED — Police on St. Croix said the FBI identified the charred bodies of two men found in a pickup truck engulfed in flames last August near the former Good Hope School in Estate Whim.
The individuals were identified as Dion Ahmil Williams and Naleem Browne, each 20, and police said at the time that an autopsy revealed they were each shot and killed and that Virgin Islands Fire Services-EMS concluded that the fire was a case of arson.
“On March 25, 2025, the Virgin Islands Police Department received the DNA test results from the FBI. The results positively identified the remains of Dion Ahmil Williams and Naleem Browne, who were both 20 years old at the time of their deaths,” Virgin Islands Police Communications Director Glen Dratte said.
The area around the Good Hope School double homicide scene at the beach in Estate Whim on St. Croix.
The case began around 5:09 p.m. on August 23, 2024, when the 911 Emergency Call Center dispatched police and fire units to Estate Whim, near the former Good Hope School, in response to a vehicle fire.
“Upon arrival, officers and firefighters observed a red Ford F150 engulfed in flames. After extinguishing the fire, they discovered the charred remains of two human bodies within the vehicle,” Dratte said, adding that the Major Crimes Unit was subsequently assigned to investigate the incident. “The fire inspector concluded that the fire was arson. Autopsy results revealed that the individuals had been shot; the medical examiner determined the cause of death to be murder by gunshot.”
DNA samples collected from the remains were then sent to the FBI laboratory for identification.
Dratte said then that the bodies were burned so severely that they could not be immediately identified.
At the time, there also was speculation that the bodies were that of Williams and Browne, who were reported missing that same day.
Dratte also said that the men, whom police initially said were 19 at the time, were last in contact with friends and family about an hour before a caller reported the burning vehicle.
The VIPD’s Major Crimes Unit investigated the case on St. Croix.
