Content warning: This article contains graphic details of violence and death.
Imagine going for a birthday vacation and never making it alive for your birthday. That’s exactly what happened with a New York native, Melissa Kerry Samnath, who was found dying in a wheelchair, just hours after arriving in Jamaica for her birthday trip on April 29.
Samnath traveled from Queens Village to Jamaica for what her relatives described as a “dream vacation.” However, she was beaten to death within hours of landing on the island. According to an autopsy report cited by The Mirror, she died from multiple blunt-force trauma injuries to her head.
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When the surveillance footage from her Airbnb was reviewed, investigators identified a man named Dane Watson carrying her luggage as she walked behind him after leaving the accommodation.
According to People, Watson was her husband, and the two got married in December 2025. However, investigations have not yet revealed the nature of their relationship.
Samnath’s niece, alias name Janice Wynter, alleged that Watson’s mother called them to inform them that he had killed her. Wynter said:
“His mother called to tell us she got a phone call from him saying he killed her and dropped her off in a wheelchair at the hospital. He didn’t even have the audacity to take her into the hospital.”
She was dropped off at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St. James and put in a wheelchair. She died shortly after arriving at the hospital, and the authorities were alerted instantly.
Samnath’s relatives revealed that they also received a text from her on the night she reached the island. The text reportedly read:
“I need you to call the cops. … Look at my location … It is a pink house.”
The message was sent over an hour before her 37th birthday and was the last her family heard from her.
According to police investigators, Samnath met Watson, the suspected killer, online before traveling to Jamaica for her birthday. Her final location was tracked to a house in Norwood, St. James, where police found some of her belongings and pools of blood.
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Despite it evidently being a trauma injury, neighbors told investigators they didn’t hear screams or any signs of distress. This has led police to believe that she may have been gagged during the assault.
Watson is still on the run. Police officials believe that he has relocated from Ocho Rios to Montego Bay. He had been living there for around two years before the killing.
When Wynter identified her aunt’s body, she revealed to The Jamaica Gleaner the toll Samnath’s death has taken on the family.
“It has been hard on us. We can’t understand why he did this to her. She wasn’t an evil person. She was the baby of our family. Now we have to bring her body back to bury.”
