Parents of 25-year-old Kerran Baker, missing since late July, said yesterday they were relieved and optimistic as police announced the arrest of a 35-year-old man for murder in the disappearance.

Police announced yesterday morning that a man was in custody “on suspicion of murder, following a police operation in the Prospect area”. Enquiries, the statement said, were continuing.

Police declined to elaborate, however, refusing to identify the man, where or how he had been located, where he was being held or if further charges were pending.

Ms Baker vanished on the evening of 30 July after a 7pm shopping trip at Foster’s Food Fair Airport, captured on CCTV footage. Responding to 31 July alarms from friends, police found groceries and Ms Baker’s handbag at her Arrow Drive, Bodden Town home, and her white Honda Civic abandoned outside Pedro Castle in Savannah the following day.

Weeks of inquiries and interviews with friends and BBM contacts yielded little public information, although investigators insisted the case remained active, despite an intervening spate of five mid-September gangland murders.

“Somebody called and told me,” said mother Sandra Anthony yesterday, speaking from her Kingston home. ”I am so grateful. I feel good at hearing this, but I would feel better to know where she is and what happened.

“For now, though, well, I am relieved to have something. We are taking it one day at a time,” she said.

Mrs Anthony, husband Wilmot Anthony, sister Tony-Ann, aunt Iona and “Patsy” Anthony-Beadle were in George Town in early August, aiding police inquiries, mounting at least two public searches of the Pedro Castle and Midland Acres areas.

In late September, the parents told iNews Cayman of their anguish after weeks of waiting and hearing nothing, pleading for investigators to speed
their inquiries.

“I feel a little better,” Mr Anthony said yesterday, also speaking from Kingston, describing his relief at the breakthrough. “They finally arrested someone, but I have no idea how they did it or who it is. They told us nothing.

“We have been waiting, and our big interest now is where [Kerran] is and what happened. The news, though, was good and we hope to hear something better soon. I feel a bit more optimistic now.”

Among those originally questioned by police was a local boyfriend, earlier described by sister Tony-Anne as “obsessive”, but police would neither confirm nor deny if he had been detained.

The arrests came after 20 UK police detectives arrived in Cayman to aid with a number of high profile cases.

Their remit was to speed investigations and secure witnesses to help with later court proceedings.