A 30-year-old Jamaican man was recently sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife in the United States.

He is Ryan Holness, former navy air traffic controller, who reportedly drove his wife from Brooklyn, New York to Maryland, where he stabbed her 58 times.

On June 5, 2009, the body of Jamaican Serika Dunkley-Holness was found in Crumpton, Kent County, Maryland.

According to an Associated Press report, Holness murdered his wife for his own financial again as a few months before his wife's murder he had taken out a US$500,000 life insurance policy on her.

THE STAR understands that Holness was the sole beneficiary on that policy.

It is reported that in an effort to conceal the murder, Holness told police that on the night before his wife's murder, he was taking her to Maryland for her to sign a lease at his apartment in Maryland. Serika was reportedly living with Holness' mother and brother in Brooklyn, New York at the time.

THE STAR understands that Holness testified that while he and his wife were on their way to Maryland they stopped to get gas. He claimed that a masked assailant, armed with a gun and a knife, forced his way into the car and demanded that they drive to Maryland.

Holness then claimed that the carjacker told them to stop, dragged him out of the car, bound his hands and feet and stabbed his wife several times. He also told the police that he was unable to help his wife because the carjacker had kicked him in his head rendering him unconscious. When he woke up he claimed he freed himself and ran to a nearby house for help.

DNA evidence

Trial evidence revealed that a sniffer dog tracked Holness' scent away from the murder scene to a nearby river where the knife used in his wife's killing was found. Other DNA evidence also confirmed that he had participated in the murder.

Also, a handwriting expert nailed further evidence against Holness as it was revealed that he had changed his handwriting in a confession letter "purporting to be from the killer".

The confession letter, THE STAR understands was given to a man by Holness to be taken to the Washington Post newspaper. But it was not delivered.

"She is my niece and I went to the States for the trial and the sentencing. Interestingly when I was in the States they took me to the crime scene in Maryland. But I can tell you that there is no doubt that he did it," Serika's aunt, Michell Francis, who lives in Kingston said.

THE STAR understands that Serika, affectionately called 'Suzie' was raised in Mountainside St Elizabeth. "Her mother lives in England but Suzie was really raised by her father and her grandmother," Francis said.

When asked to describe her niece's personality, Francis told THE STAR that she was just too simple. "Ryan never wanted Suzie and her family warned her against him because he didn't have any character. She is just a simple person and she didn't talk much but Ryan didn't stop until he took her to the States and he had a plan. Ryan migrated in 2001 and then he came and marry her in 2003 and by 2008 she went up and from that she came back to Jamaica only once."