Friends of Stacey-Ann Smith say the terrible event of her 6 February death in Jamaica was upsetting to everyone that knew her, and that her passing has left a void.

“She was a very jocular person. People greeted her with a big smile. She always had a smile for everyone,” said Millie Wallace, a friend of two years that knew Stacey-Ann at King’s Sports Centre, where she used to spend every Saturday..

“She came here every week for about two years. She was such a great skater and she would help all the others, especially kids that that couldn’t skate so well. They were taking lessons and she would help teach them, and that’s how we became friends,” Ms Wallace told iNews Cayman yesterday.

On Monday, responding to neighbours’ complaints of “a bad smell” coming from a Portmore, St Catherine house, Jamaican police found Ms Smith’s body sealed inside a sack and cemented beneath the floor.

Unearthing the body, St Catherine Superintendent Clive Blair called the murder “the most gruesome I have ever seen”. Investigators say Ms Smith had been missing since last Wednesday, and speculated she had been strangled.

Nearby residents said the victim had been involved in a dispute with a relative, while police have arrested a women believed to be a sister of Ms Smith.

Millie said both herself and Stacey-Ann had been forced to leave Cayman for their native Jamaica, “rolled over“, Stacey-Ann in late January, and Millie just more than a year ago, returning only in late autumn, renewing her friendship with Stacey-Ann.

“I went home on rollover, and came back in November. She didn’t actually work here, but she used to come all the time and always helped everyone. She was very nice, very loving and gentle.

“Not everyone could skate with her in the ring. She skated so well that we often didn’t charge her to come in.

“She came every Saturday. You would never find her anywhere else, and the kids that couldn’t skate so well, she would carry them and teach them in the ring, and she never charged for it,” Millie said.

Calling her “aggressive”, she said Stacey, 35, had been outgoing, fun and a pleasure to be around.

Her own job, Mille said, was “in the back”, in the evenings, dispensing water, juice and snacks, managing the crowds, especially on a Saturday night.

“You need to come down here and see how busy it is at 7:00, 8:00, 9:00. We close at 10:00, but there are so many people. Stacey’s sister and her boyfriend used to come here too, but i don’t know anything about them. I don’t know anything about Stacey’s personal life, where she lived or worked.

When she heard the news of Stacey’s death, Millie said, “I was just crying and crying. I liked her so much. I was so upset. Everybody was upset.

“She was never a trouble-maker. She never caused any problem, and she was so helpful. Everyone liked her.”