Elderly Man Slashed in Dangriga

Felix Castillo Carranza

The constant story for this year remained about murder, which according to the statistics, continued on a constant upward trend in 2014. Tonight, there is one more to add and it happened in southern Belize. On Saturday, a minor made a gruesome discovery in a house in the Lakeland Area of Dangriga, where the body of an elderly man was found in a large pool of blood. The father of two, seventy-two year old Felix Castillo Carranza, met a horrific death likely on Boxing Day, and it is believed robbery was the motive because money was missing as well as personal items.  While his home is located among a cluster of houses on a property, information has been hard to come by, but police have detained three persons for questioning. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports. 

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The gruesome murder of a septuagenarian vendor inside his home over the weekend has left the community of Lakeland in utter disbelief.  The body of seventy-two-year-old Felix Castillo Carranza was discovered in a pool of his own blood by a minor who happened upon the horrific scene on Saturday afternoon.  The eleven-year-old daughter of Marsha Castillo had just swung open this wooden front door to check on her elderly neighbor.

Marsha Castillo, Neighbor of Deceased

“My daughter said that he had a big slit on his throat and the murderer cut out ih tongue and pan di door, since di door paint white, di door mi full ah blood, full ah Mr. Felix’s blood, some mi deh pan di end ah di fan.  Police ker all ah den deh as evidence.”

Castillo’s graphic description of the murder scene suggests that Carranza was the victim of what is commonly known as a Colombian necktie.  The mutilation of the hotdog vendor, according to Castillo, happened sometime on Friday night.

Marsha Castillo

Marsha Castillo

“Wahn lotta blood mi deh eena di bedroom because ih happen eena di bedroom.  Blood mi deh pan ih slippers, all over eena di house, di house da mi wahn mess, even pan ih sheets.  We noh hyah no noise, but we noh hyah ih scream, we noh hyah ih bawl fi help, we noh hyah nothing di drop.  We noh know weh mi happen eena dis house.  All weh we find eena di bedroom da ih body because if ih mi bawl we mi wahn hurry call police or we mi wahn try send somebody een deh fi try fight off di man.”

Dangriga police are of a different opinion.  They believe that someone may have seen or heard something.  After all, there are several homes situated on the property.

Sgt. Wilfredo Ferrufino, O.C., C.I.B., Dangriga

“At this point we believe that robbery may be one of the motives and at this point we are looking into several persons of interest and the investigation is ongoing at this time.”

Wilfredo Ferrufino

Isani Cayetano

“The lay of the land as it concerns that residence, the property, there are several buildings within the given area.  Do you, what are you gathering from people who live there?”

Sgt. Wilfredo Ferrufino

“Well at this point we have interviewed everyone in that [yard] because there are three other houses or buildings inside that same yard and we have interviewed everyone from that yard and we haven’t gathered any useful information with regards to the investigation.  The residents are saying that they didn’t hear anything.”

Among them is Castillo’s relative who has since been detained pending the outcome of the investigation.  His family contends that he had no involvement in the murder.  In fact, Castillo goes as far as pointing the finger at someone who is presently of no interest to police.

Marsha Castillo

“He da wah clear Spanish man weh got narrow face and short, Spanish hair. My mother’s tenant Ms. Elsie Boom-Boom and my neighbor across from here Marigold Andrews also saw a Spanish man standing there for three and a half hours and he told both of them that he was one of Mr. Felix’s son that’s why nobody neva call police.  But my mother wasn’t here and my mom said if she was here she would have called the police because she no tolerate nobody who noh know Mr. Felix fi come knock pan dis door, especially dehn part ah di night because da late da night this murdering happen.”

Carranza’s children would not allow our camera inside the wooden residence.  Missing from within are a number of household items, as well as money the elderly man had hidden away in the bedroom.

Marsha Castillo

“Di motive da money.  Mr. Felix money ih mi want and ih get it cause ih thief di whole wallet with it.  And the first time dehn bruk eena dis man house dehn thief three thousand dollars from underneath ih pillow.  Da man weh got big money.  Dehn bruk eena dis house three times.”

Dangriga police confirm that they also have received word that the incident happened sometime overnight.

Sgt. Wilfredo Ferrufino

“We have received that information, however, the post mortem is scheduled for tomorrow and the doctor will.  That post mortem will shed some light on the exact hour and a time of death by the doctor, you know.”

Isani Cayetano

“Is there any other information you can share with us concerning this incident?”

Sgt. Wilfredo Ferrufino

“No.  That would be it at this point.  There are, like I said, I don’t want to go into any details.  The investigation is still young and still open and we wouldn’t want to jeopardize it at this point.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.