Murder In Cayo: What Happened to Rudolph Selgado on Valley of Peace Road?
Rudolph Selgado
The gruesome discovery of a decomposing body in the Valley Peace, Cayo, has shocked the community in the area. Roaring Creek resident, Rudolph Selgado, an employee of BWSL, had been missing for days. Sensing that something was awfully wrong, his common-law-wife organized a search party but came up empty-handed. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, however, Selgado’s body was found by a passerby. He had met a cruel death; the motive remains unknown. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The most recent murder in the Belmopan jurisdiction occurred over the weekend. Overnight on Saturday, the partially nude decomposing body of a man was found in bushes off the Valley of Peace Road. Thirty-three year old Rudolph Selgado was reported missing last Thursday by his common-law wife with whom he lives in Roaring Creek Village. When his body was discovered three days later, his face had been bashed in and had several large cut wound to the neck, chest and to the back of the head.
Voice of: Kayla Spencer, Common-law Wife
“I got a call way from Hattieville saying that they found his body—not from the police officers—I got a call from his aunt and then his father came by the house and said they found him. We got two vehicles and we went by the scene. On that scene, I found five police officers and they didn’t want me to see him. They didn’t even want me to see him. When I went in and I saw him, he was lying there with his pants off, his shirt off…a cut to his neck and worm all over his body. The only thing I can see was his left leg that had a heart tattoo. (Crying) They beat him in his face. They beat him in his lone face. I don’t know who did this to my common-law, but he was the one that took care of us, noh care what.”
Selgado was an employee of Belize Water Services Limited for the past ten years and would never miss work. The family was alerted that something went wrong when he didn’t clock in on Thursday morning, but did they think he was killed.
Rudolph Williams Sr.
Rudolph Williams Sr., Father of Murder Victim
“I pass the house and he and ih brother were on the verandah. From there, I headed home. The following day, I get the message that the man noh come home, missing. The guys that work with him at BWS come to my house and say, bwai yo hear weh happen? Yo son gone missing. From there mi mind gone cause the man noh miss ih work; punctual to ih job. And mi mind say something gone wrong because dah man usually deh pan ih work.”
Voice of: Kayla Spencer
“I got a call from my common-law husband and he told me that he was coming home. He called me three times from his friend’s phone and the last call he told me that he is coming home and he loves me. And I fell asleep. In the morning, I woke up and he was not home as yet. I got concerned around ten o’clock when I went back home; he was not there. I asked my kids if he had arrived and they said no. So I was really concerned and while in Roaring Creek I went to the police station. And while I was there, they said there was no person by that name they had arrested or anything. So I came back to Belmopan and went to the hospital and there was no person by that name either. Like ten minutes to one, I went to the Belmopan Police Station and the officer to the front told me I can’t do a missing person’s report until twenty-four hours so I left.”
Taking matters into their own hands and with assistance from his coworkers and from the Belmopan City Council, where Spencer works, the family conducted two days of search on the river as well as across Roaring Creek.
Voice of: Kayla Spencer, Common-law Wife
“The mayor give them the permission to set up a search team, one o’clock Friday afternoon, and from the Cawich Bridge—my mind told me to check the waters—I was from the Cawich Bridge on to More Tomorrow with some of my coworkers and BWS workers. For three days, we were on the search. The last place we checked was the burial ground in Maya Mopan digging holes. We found animals, horses, dogs and all kinds of thing and then I said, God please just give me the strength to do this. Give me some answers please.”
Rudolph Williams Sr.
“Two days pass and the man noh report dah ih work, I say…dehn mussi kill my son. Ih sad mien, real sad weh dehn do to my son.”
Duane Moody
“He was your oldest son sir?”
Rudolph Williams Sr.
“Yes sir, junior. Rudolph Junior.”
Duane Moody
“We understand that he was found with several chop wounds all over.”
Rudolph Williams Sr.
“I was the only one on the scene. All I see was ih had on a red shirt and the doctor I guess…it was too awful.”
By all accounts, Selgado was not known as a troublemaker. He was last seen at the May Garden Park during the Independence Day festivities in the company of a coworker, who had just recently started working on a project at BWSL. News Five understands that Selgado was in a confrontation with a group of men that same night that he went missing. The family remains perplexed as to who could have wanted their loved one dead.
Voice of: Kayla Spencer
“I was not there, but if he had any problem with anybody in Roaring Creek, I send my boyfriend to buy like four times for the night. He always used to go by his uncle’s tire shop and hang out there. If my boyfriend had a problem in Roaring Creek, he wouldn’t walk Roaring Creek noh care what. And I wouldn’t have moved to Roaring Creek. The reason I moved there was to better off our lives together, without families around. That is why we moved to Roaring Creek. And if he even had a problem in Roaring Creek, he would have told me because he would have told me because he always tell me everything.”
Rudolph Williams Sr.
“Easy going god. Yeah mien, it hurt bad…really hurt mi bad. To do my son. But I can’t do anything; it already happen. All I have to do is live with it and ih gradually come out of me.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
