POLICE say they now have a suspect in custody and are following several leads, that they believe could lead to a major breakthrough in the murder of Kayalicia Simpson, the 14-year-old girl who was Tuesday hacked to death in Yallahs, St Thomas.

The suspect was picked up less than 24 hours after the body of the grade eight student was found metres away from her one-bedroom board house in which she lived with her grandmother, police sources told the Jamaica Observer.

“Since the murder of the child, four persons have been brought into custody for questioning, [but] three of those individuals have since been released and one from the group remains in custody,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Hopton Nicholson said.

“We believe this individual can provide us with more information that could assist us in our investigation,” the police officer said after members of the Police High Command toured Yallahs and met with members of the child’s family and other residents.

Police, at the same time, warned that they would leave “no stone unturned” in their search for those responsible for this brutal murder of the teenager.

Police reported that about 4:30 am Tuesday, Simpson, a student of Donald Quarrie High School, woke up and went outside, as is customary, to prepare for school.

Family members became suspicious after she failed to return. A search was launched and the body of the child was found with several chop wounds.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, who was among several people to condemn the killing, urged the Government to “move quickly” to address the spate of attacks against women and children, saying that condolence cannot “bring back our children”.

Said Holness: “We cannot continue in a situation where so many of our children, especially young girls, are the victims of these gruesome acts. We have seen too many. This is not just a matter for the police, as we, as Jamaicans, must play our role in turning in all the criminals, especially those who prey on our women and children. The Government is failing in its role to protect our children as it seems, instead of getting better, the situation is getting worse.”

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, meanwhile, said that the community must assist in bringing Kayalicia’s killers to justice, while the Child Development Agency (CDA) said that the wanton assault on the nation’s children continues to be a blot on the collective conscience of the society.