Human Remains Found near Blackman Eddy

Tonight, villages in central Cayo District are on edge after another gruesome discovery was made around two this afternoon. A group of boys hunting iguana on the banks of the Belize River in Blackman Eddy village came across far bigger prey – the remains of what appeared to be severed human hands and feet. So far, there has been no connection to other recent murders like Ernesto “Jun” Wiltshire in Teakettle and Keonia Ara at the Belmopan dumpsite, but villagers remain concerned.  For Ara’s mother, Sherlene Mai, it hit very close to home, as it was her traumatized son who reported the discovery to her. Aaron Humes gleaned her perspective on recent events in the following story.

Aaron Humes, Reporting

The last news that bereaved mother Sherlene Mai expected to get around two this afternoon was that another body had been found in their village, but it came from her own son.

Sherlene Mai

Sherlene Mai, Eyewitness

“My son come running home and ih say ‘Ma, ma, ma!’ Ih say, ‘There’s a body by the river!’ I say, ‘What?’ Ih say, ‘Yes, ma, a body by the river.’ I say, ‘Da wa female? Da wa male? Please help me describe what you see.’ Ih say, ‘Ma, ah no know; I see two hand and ah see two foot, and I noh manage to see the entire body,’ but he was like shaken up and thing; so I immediately call Mr. [Howell] Gillett, [who] informed me to call San Ignacio Police, and then I talked to my boss – he’s says he’s on holiday and he said he would forward it to Mr. Ramirez; and by the time I got here after a couple minutes, the police came on the scene and they screen off the area.”

There was no evidence of any other body part, and so far, nothing to identify the butchered corpse. The case is in the hands of San Ignacio Police. The area near the entrance of Spanish Lookout has seen multiple fatalities in the past few weeks – a situation that Mai says has her community and family on edge.

Sherlene Mai

“What’s next? ‘Cause you never know. Whenever I heard anything like this coming out of our little village, Blackman Eddy, you never ever heard this and to find this discovery here, like ‘hmmh’ – you wonder what is going on.”

Reporter

“So your son is doing better now? You said he’s shaken…”

Sherlene Mai

“He’s still shaken up due to – we not even recover fully from my daughter and then for him to come up on this – he’s still shaken up.”

Reporter

“I’m sure he has questions?”

Sherlene Mai

“I know he says – he’s still talking to me, I hope – but I say thank God they come to the river too, because the body could have remained there and then probably some parent out there is worried like I was and then they could bring a closure and find out if their loved one is missing.”

For now, Mai told us she does not believe the gruesome death has any connection to the recent murders, nor does she think anyone from her village did it. But she concedes that these are troubling times.

Sherlene Mai

“As what I say we don’t have violence in Blackman Eddy – when things like this happen, it usually be somebody out-district or probably nearby villages to do something like this; I know my guys them and I don’t think they would do something like this; these guys work – I’ve been here forty-five years and I never had this kind of experience with these guys here in Blackman Eddy.”

From Blackman Eddy, Cayo District, Aaron Humes reporting for News Five.

Police have not issued any official statements as of news time. In related news, Sherlene Mai says a candlelight vigil will be held for her late daughter, Keonia Ara, at the family home in Blackman Eddy village beginning at seven Friday night.