COLD CASE: VIPD Unit Seeks Info On 14-Year-Old Murder Of Campo Rico Woman

CANE BAY — The VIPD’s Cold Case Unit is seeking information in the death of Brendalee Melendez Belardo on St. Croix.

On June 2, 2007, at around 8:40 a.m., VIPD Officers were dispatched to the Scenic Road area after receiving reports of a body being found.

The body was later identified as Brendalee Melendez Belardo, a 30 year old resident of Campo Rico in Frederiksted.

Investigation revealed that Belardo sustained a single gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Criminal Investigation Bureau, 911 or Crime Stoppers USVI.

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.