Guesthouse Murder/Suicide: Mother says jealousy cost daughter her life

Grief-stricken and searching for answers, the mother of 31-year-old Loretta Sonia Cyrus believes jealousy drove her daughter’s former partner to end both their lives in a tragic murder–suicide in Georgetown on Tuesday.

Loretta, a native of Rose Hall Town, Region Six, and her former partner, Cyril Saul, were found dead in separate rooms at a guesthouse on Lime Street, Wortmanville. Police continue investigations into the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Speaking through tears in an interview with News Room, Loretta’s mother, Minierva Sancho, said her daughter had moved to Georgetown several years ago in search of work and had been living with her father in Kitty. It was while working at the guesthouse that Loretta met Saul, and the two eventually began a relationship.

Although she met Saul only once, Sancho said he appeared friendly at the time. Still, mindful of her daughter’s past experiences, she cautioned Loretta against rushing into another relationship, particularly after what she described as a previously toxic one.

“I told her to be careful and not hurry into anything,” Sancho recalled.

Over time, Loretta began sharing concerns about Saul’s behaviour. According to her mother, the young woman complained about his attitude and eventually made the difficult decision to end the relationship. The breakup, Sancho said, happened about two months before the tragedy.

“This guy couldn’t accept it,” the grieving mother said. “He had that attitude—‘If I can’t get you, nobody can.’ There are other women out there. Why couldn’t he just move on? Why do this to my daughter?”

Sancho described Loretta as quiet, calm and respectful. She said her daughter decided to walk away from the relationship after learning that Saul was involved with another woman. Despite that, jealousy remained an issue.

“Apparently, it’s jealousy,” she said. “When my daughter dressed, she looked good, and he couldn’t take that. But there are other women who look nice too. Why fixate on her?”

Loretta spent the Christmas holidays with her family in Rose Hall Town. On the Monday before her death, she returned home briefly before heading back to Georgetown to resume work. Sancho said she never imagined that visit would be the last time she would see her youngest child alive.

“My last words to her were, ‘Be careful and hurry back,’” she said, her voice breaking. “I never thought that would be the last thing I’d say to my daughter.”

Still struggling to understand what unfolded, Sancho questioned whether anyone else was present at the guesthouse at the time of the incident.

“Wasn’t anybody else in the building?” she asked. “From the first attack, she might have screamed—unless he took her from behind, unaware, and did what he had to do.”

While Loretta never told her mother that Saul had physically assaulted her, Sancho said she does not know whether her daughter may have confided in someone else.

Loretta was the youngest of three siblings. Today, her family, relatives and friends are left devastated, grappling with the sudden and violent loss of a young woman they say was simply trying to move on with her life.