Guyana (MNN)–Police in Guyana are questioning two people in the deaths of a pair of Wycliffe Bible Translator missionaries.
42-year old Rich and 58-year old Charlene Hicks had been working for the Summer Institute of Linguistics in southern Guyana near the Brazilian border. On March 30, the couple was found dead outside their burned home.
Although details surrounding their deaths are considered ‘inconclusive’, local officials are investigating the incident as a double homicide.
Reports suggested the assailants set fire to the home to cover up the deaths. Rich’s remains were found inside the home. The body of his wife, Charlene, was found some distance away from the house, police said. A close friend said she also had wounds that indicated she may have been killed trying to escape.
The Hicks had worked for the past nine years with the Wapishana tribe and were translating the Bible from English to the Wapishana language.
According to information from Wycliffe, Charlene grew up in a missionary family in the Ozarks. Rich, who had dual citizenship in Canada and the U-S, grew up in South Africa where his parents were involved in missions work.
The pair met during linguistics training in Dallas in January 1990. The couple was married in March 1992. Two years later they went to Guyana to help with language development and translation of the Scriptures into the Wapishana language. The couple did not have any children.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
