A Jamaican man has told the Brent & Kilburn Times he knows who murdered his best friend – because the same man then threatened to murder him too.
Dwile Ricketts claims he has fled his home in St Elizabeth, where his friend Cedric Mitchell went missing last summer.
Cedric, 54, from Wembley, went disappeared in July 2023. Police have so far failed to determine what happened to him, but his friends and family are convinced he has been murdered.
They include Dwile, who says he is now living on the run after the man suspected of killing Cedric started threatening and stalking him too.
“I believe he has killed Cedric,” said Dwile. “He was threatening Cedric. I think he made good on his threat.
“This man was threatening me afterwards… He said when he makes somebody missing, no one can find them.”
Dwile claims he told police about the threats but they did nothing. He is convinced they are protecting his best friend’s killer.
Cedric’s sister Maxine, frustrated by the “lazy” official investigation, has flown to Jamaica to mount her own search for the truth, aided by a private detective.
But it was Dwile who formally reported Cedric missing. He spoke exclusively to the Times.
A photograph Dwile took of his friend Cedric Mitchell in Jamaica. He described Cedric as a laid back person who enjoyed nature and art (Image: Dwile Ricketts)
The Beginning
Dwile met Cedric in 2009.
“He was one of my best friends,” he said. “He was a kind person. He was laid back, kept to himself. He liked to play pool. He liked to go out and have fun.
“He does farming. He likes to plant. He likes to watch things grow. He likes nature. He is an artist. He can draw.”
Dwile hadn’t seen Cedric draw for years, though. He was too focused on making money.
“He was a business-minded person and would try always to make a profit… He likes to start something and be his own boss.
“In a nutshell, he wants to be his own man. He doesn’t want to be working for other people. He doesn’t like that.”
Cedric, born and raised in Wembley, had built houses in St Elizabeth and become a landlord.
In the weeks before he disappeared, he and Dwile were planning a new venture: a tourist bus service in Montego Bay.
“I was going to be the driver,” said Dwile.
Maxine previously told the Times she was investing in that business. She wired Cedric thousands of pounds via Western Union, but he never collected it.
That was when she realised something was wrong.
Dwile said Cedric Mitchell didn’t normally enjoy posing for photographs, so if he let you take pictures then you knew he really liked you (Image: Dwile Ricketts)
The Final Days
Both Maxine and Dwile have named the man they believe is behind Cedric’s disappearance.
We cannot identify him for legal reasons, but they say he and Cedric were in a dispute.
According to Dwile, the man had been harassing Cedric, demanding $25,000.
“One time, Cedric called me – I think it was the 24th of July,” said Dwile.
“He said, ‘Listen to this’, and in the background I heard this man threatening Cedric, saying what he’s going to do if he didn’t get his money.”
Two days later, on July 26, Cedric came to give Dwile a hand with his coal-burning business.
During that visit, they had a video call with Maxine about the planned tour company. It was the first time Dwile had met Maxine.
After the call, Cedric told Dwile he might be returning to America in August for some work.
“But he wasn’t sure, because he wanted to start the tour business,” he said. “He was kind of indecisive about going back to America.”
But he said that if he did go, he was intent on settling his $25,000 dispute before he left.
When Dwile asked how he had ever got involved with the man, “He didn’t want to tell me. He got angry at me and mumbled some stuff and sped off in his car.”
That was the last time Dwile ever saw his best friend.
A photograph of Cedric Mitchell taken not long before his disappearance in Jamaica last year (Image: Mitchell family)
“Short Fuse”
“Usually when he had an outburst like that, I know what kind of person he is – I gave him space and he just came around again,” said Dwile. “I know how he is. He has a short fuse.”
It wasn’t unusual for the friends not to see each other for a while. Cedric travelled a lot and, said Dwile: “Living in Jamaica, not all the time you have money. When you don’t have money, you have to stay home.
“When he had money, he came to get me, and when I had money, I came to his house and we went to play pool or go to the beach, drink some rum.”
After Cedric’s outburst, Dwile watched his activity on WhatsApp, waiting for a conciliation. Cedric remained active on the app until July 29.
“When August came, I thought he went back to America because I didn’t hear from him,” he said.
Dwile threw himself into his coal-burning business, “to make money to survive”.
“A while into August, I went down the hill and I heard people asking me about Cedric,” he said.
“I was looking out and saying, ‘Maybe he will link me’. But he didn’t link me. I didn’t hear from him. I started to call him but I didn’t get an answer from his phone.”
Then Dwile was contacted by Cedric’s family, who also couldn’t reach him.
“That’s when I started to say, Cedric is really missing, for true.”
Another of Dwile’s photos of his friend Cedric Mitchell, who he last saw on July 26, 2023. He was last seen alive by another three three days later, on July 29 – also the last day he ever used his WhatsApp account (Image: Dwile Ricketts)
An Unusual Investigation
Dwile filed a missing person report and even accompanied police when they went to question the man he’d heard threatening Cedric.
The man and his family claimed they’d last seen Cedric on July 25, climbing into an unfamiliar vehicle with two men.
Dwile was present when police took statements from this family, he said. He claims officers were coaching them, advising them to leave out certain details.
“This is not normal,” he said.
When Dwile attended a police station to make his own statement, he had Cedric’s family on the phone so they could listen to the interview.
When Dwile questioned why the officer was not writing down what he was telling her, Cedric’s family – including his distraught mother – allegedly heard the officer shout something which translates into English as: “What do you want me to do? Do you want me to suck your bum hole?”
“My mum was devastated,” said Maxine. “She was embarrassed because she is herself a Jamaican and she could not believe that a woman in authority would speak to a citizen and be so disgusting and derogatory.”
The Jamaica Constabulary Force did not respond to our requests for comment.
Cedric Mitchell’s sister Maxine has flown to Jamaica to investigate his disappearance, assisted by a private detective (Image: Maxine Mitchell)
Threats
When Maxine received the police report months later, it adopted the suspects’ timeline that Cedric was last seen on July 25, ignoring Dwile’s statement that Cedric visited him on July 26.
“This is madness,” said Dwile.
Then, he alleged, the man who’d been threatening Cedric began threatening him too, angry that Dwile had brought police to his door.
“I believe he has killed Cedric,” Dwile said, flatly. “He was threatening Cedric. I think he made good on his threat.
“This man was threatening me afterwards. When I brought the police to the house, immediately afterwards, this man was sending death threats to me.
“He said to somebody that whenever he catches me, he is going to kill me… He said when he makes somebody missing, no one can find them.”
One day, Dwile spotted the man following his car. He detoured and lost him, but has never returned home since.
“I’ve left St Elizabeth,” said Dwile. “If I hadn’t spotted him following me, I probably would be dead today. I probably would be missing too.”
He reported these incidents to the police, he said, but nothing happened.
“They were protecting these people,” he opined. “It’s puzzling to me. Why would they be doing that?”
Maxine told the Brent & Kilburn Times how “distressing” she had found dealing with the “lackadaisical” police and their “lazy” investigation.
Jamaican police never responded to emails from the Times.