Teenage girl murdered in Corozal
For the second time in less than two weeks we regret to report the murder of a teenaged girl in the Corozal District. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods hit the road early and has just returned with her story.
Amparita Sanker, Sister
“Well, we never believe that mi wah happen, we never believe that mi wah happened to she.”
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Early this morning a man went to cut bush on this piece of land situated in San Antonio Village in the Corozal District when he came upon the badly decomposed body of seventeen-year-old Sheila Hall. The body, covered with a white sheet, was found about twenty feet off this road. According to authorities, it was lying face up and was partially nude. A part of the young girl’s clothing could be seen just a short distance away from the body.
Amparita Sanker
“Well we got on with her good and she dah wah nice girl. Everything I tell she to do, she do it.”
Amparita Sanker says she cannot believe that her younger sister, who she raised after their mother went to the United States, was possibly raped and then killed. Sanker says she has no idea who committed the crime, but area residents told News 5 that they strongly suspect that Hall, who was very sociable, may have been in bad company the night she left home and did not return.
Amparita Sanker
“From Sunday night she gone nine o’clock and she never seen back and they noh know which part she deh.”
Jacqueline Woods
“The family says because Sheila was known to leave home for several days they did not become alarmed or report her missing to the police. In this case, it is not sure whether or not the report would have saved the young lady’s life, but Superintendent Michael Gutierrez, the officer in charge of the Corozal police station, believes that they should have been notified.”
Supt. Michael Gutierrez, O.C. Corozal Police Station
“It is very important that they informed the police because they could never know under what circumstances that person would have gone missing on. So anybody going missing should be treated seriously, the matter should be treated seriously and reported to the police, because as I said, you could never know under what circumstances that person may have gone missing.”
Corozal police would not go into the specifics of their investigation, but sources tell News 5 that an area resident has reported that he last saw Hall get into a small black car with tinted windows on this stretch of highway. According to Hall’s mother, Manuela Sanker, who returned from the U.S. only three weeks ago, she is deeply troubled by the way her daughter was murdered.
Manuela Sanker, Mother of the Deceased
“She was a friendly girl. I don’t think she has any enemies with anybody because, according to what I heard.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Do you believe it is someone she knew that killed her”
Manuela Sanker
“I don’t know, I don’t think so. I don’t think somebody gonna kill her that she knew. I don’t think so, it’s got to be somebody who try to do what they did.”
Hall’s body was so badly decomposed that family members could only identify her by her name she had tattooed on her back and a dragon tattoo on her right foot. They believe she was killed on Sunday night. This afternoon, pathologist Dr. Hugh Sanchez, arrived on the scene and conducted a post mortem examination at the site.
Manuela Sanker
“You know it can happen again so we really want to get that person catch.”
Supt. Gutierrez says they have detained a young man they strongly suspect can assist in the investigation.
Supt. Michael Gutierrez
“Well the Corozal police are very much concerned about this second murder and we certainly intend to heightened and increase patrols as we go into the Easter weekend. So we are very, very much concerned and consequently we will try to increase our patrols in the outlying areas especially in Corozal.”
On March twenty-fourth, the dead body of sixteen-year-old Elia Gonzales was found on a feeder road that connects Concepcion and Libertad villages in the Corozal District. Gonzales was raped and then strangled to death. Corozal police do not believe the cases are connected.
Supt. Michael Gutierrez
“What I see are individuals out there who would want to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. We would therefore want to advise people out there to ensure that when they are out, especially in the night, to be along with somebody and not to be utilising these outlying, inaccessible roads alone, especially during the night time.”
According to Sanker her daughter lived with her in the U.S. but returned to Belize over a year ago. Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
The post-mortem examination conducted on the body indicates that Sheila Hall was strangled to death.
