"Justice for Jamie Cockayne" Groundswell Is Growing!

Wow! Look what we can do. Philly Future, because you promoted our first Jamie Cockayne post to the front page, it has really helped raise awareness - even The Inquirer acknowledged blogs were taking up the slack in news reporting. We hope you consider promoting this as well, because the more that is out there, the better. Jamie's family members whom some of our members know are thankful and appreciative for everyone's support. Jamie could be anyone's kid brother, son, grandson, friend...and when a young life is wasted by murder whether in the Virgin Islands or here in our own backyard, well, it should matter...and the Governor on St. John's is unbelievable - should he even remain in office? Shouldn't the Federal Government threaten to clean house down there or cut subsidies? Shouldn't the Federal Government be able to just get involved in cases like this?

Our members and friends have been writing the Governor of St. John's US Virgin Islands and other officials, and have not received a single response regarding the brutal slaughtering of Jamie Cockayne. Like others, we have started reaching out to any reporter anywhere we know. And it is paying dividends, because in addition to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News giving it air time, we understand folks like CNN are finally showing interest (took long enough). Today we bring you bits of two articles - one from the Inquirer by Mari Schaefer and one by Michael Smerconish in The Daily News. They are both excellent, so we hope other bloggers will link them as well.

The momentum is building, people...please keep it up....e-mail addresses to write to at very bottom of this post...many thanks for helping make a difference and playing it forward!

Michael Smerconish | WHEN A MURDER DOESN'T MAKE THE CUT

YOUNG. Attractive. American. Murdered on a tropical island. Sound familiar?
You're thinking Natalee Holloway. I'm talking Jamie Cockayne. My hunch is that this may be the first you've ever heard of him.

He's a 21-year-old from New Hope who was murdered on St. John in the Virgin Islands on June 19. His parents are desperate for answers as to what claimed the life of this graduate of New Hope-Solebury High.

In June, Jamie's family rented a house in St. John while his mother, Jean, looked for a retirement home. Jamie was awaiting the documentation needed to work as a sailing instructor at an exclusive yacht club.

Jean Cockayne told me she spent a sleepless night on June 19 waiting for her son to return home. He never did. She told me she received a call in the morning from St. John police, who reported a problem with her rental car. Another sign of trouble.

Her worst fears were realized when one of the officers described himself as a homicide detective. Jean asked if her son was dead, and the officer told her yes. He'd been found stabbed to death around 12:30 a.m.

The Cockaynes' nightmare had just begun.

A lawyer representing the family told me the local police hosed off the crime scene within 90 minutes of the murder, before some investigators even arrived.

The police also threw out a hat Jamie had been wearing because they ran out of evidence bags, the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, key witnesses fear retaliation if they help convict the locals responsible. An autopsy was performed, but police have been reluctant to release the findings. The Cockaynes say they don't even know their son's cause of death.....Two months later, there are still no arrests in Jamie's death.

It's an incredible story. But it's not generating headlines. A recent Google search yielded fewer than 10 hits. Clearly it lacks the appeal of the Holloway case.

I asked Jean Cockayne why. She pointed out that the Holloway matter was initially billed as a missing-person case, while Jamie was a homicide victim. But I think there's more to it.

Being young, white, blonde and female gets the attention - fast.

Parents press to find their son's killers
By Mari A. Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writer

Jamie Cockayne knew a four-year college degree and a business suit were not in his future. He wanted a career where he could sail.
So the 21-year-old from New Hope planned to move to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where his parents met and married and his family often vacationed, to start a job at a yacht club.

On June 19, while waiting for work permits on the island of St. John, he was killed after leaving a bar.

No one has been arrested, and echoing what another family did after a 2005 disappearance in Aruba, Cockayne's relatives have started a campaign for national media attention to pressure local law enforcement for a resolution.

Those officials say they are working hard, and express unhappiness with the family's sharp criticism. Cockayne's mother, Jean Gilligan Cockayne, has been particularly critical.

"If police did a little bit of their job, those people would have been in jail and Jamie would still be alive," she said.....According to police, they have 420 officers and cover three islands. The major-crimes division is on St. Thomas, a boat ride away from the smaller St. John.

The family has hired a private investigator to pursue the case.

In recent years, the Virgin Islands Police Department has been wracked with labor disputes and was the focus of a U.S. Department of Justice probe into police corruption.

Because of the Cockaynes' efforts, stories have appeared in newspapers, on television and in blogs. Greta Van Susteren of Fox News featured the case. E-mails have gone out asking people to contact their representatives and urge the federal government to take over the case.....The police station is close to the bar, and Gilligan Cockayne said it had taken her only 15 seconds to drive from the station to the crime scene.

"By the time police got there, Jamie was on the ground bleeding to death," Gilligan Cockayne said. "They stabbed him in the back, twice in the neck, in the chest, ribs, and femoral artery. They butchered him."

"It is the Wild West down there," said Gilligan Cockayne, who added that the family had canceled plans to buy a home.

"I wish I could buy that bar and burn it down," she said.

To do your part and play it forward in memory of a life wasted by violent crime, check out:

Gov John Dejongh john.dejongh@go.vi.gov
Attorney General Vincent F. Frazer, Esq vfrazer@doj.vi.gov
Police Department James H. McCall Police.Commissioner@vipd.gov.vi
Department of Tourism Beverly Nicholson Doty bnnicholson@usvitourism.vi
http://www.governordejongh.com/
http://www.ltg.gov.vi/

Raymond J. Williams, Chief of Staff raymond.williams@lgo-vi.gov
Sonia L. Boyce, Executive Assistant sonia.boyce@lgo-vi.gov
Celeste Lawrence,Press Secretary celeste.lawrence@lgo-vi.gov
Bertilia Remy, Executive Secretary bertilia.remy@lgo-vi.gov
Monique Wenner, Executive Assistant to Chief of Staff monique.wenner@lgo-vi.gov

This tourism website allows you to contact them this way via online form: http://www.usvitourism.vi/en/search/contact.html

Contact this tourism website as well : http://www.usvi.net/usvi/

More contacts here http://www.statelocalgov.net/other-vi.cfm