Where is Oswald Arnold?

Oswald Arnold

A twenty-year-old young man from Roaring Creek Village is missing tonight and his family fears the worst. Oswald Arnold was last seen alive around five o’clock on Thursday evening and promised his family he would return the next day from a fishing trip with a group of friends. The friends made it back safely, but Arnold never did. The family says they have reasons to believe that something sinister happened during the fishing trip – and now they want answers. They have been searching for him tirelessly, and so far they have made no progress. Andrea Polanco was in the west today and has been following the story.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

It was here – at the Iguana Creek Bridge – where twenty-year-old Oswald Arnold was last seen alive. He was along with fourfriends from Roaring Creek Village, supposedly on an overnight fishing trip on Thursday evening. When the group of boys returned home on Friday and Oswald never did, the family started to suspect something bad may have happened on the so-called fishing expedition. Since then the family has been on a massivemanhuntalong the river. Natalee Arnold told us that they have received credible reports that Oswald was killed and his body was either dumped in the river or buried along the banks.

Natalee Arnold

Natalee Arnold, Aunt of Missing Person

“The police they are at it and they gather information that he is somewhere along the river.”

Andrea Polanco

“Dead?”

Natalee Arnold

“Dead. The police said they told them he is dead. They shot him, they chopped him, they tied his hands behind his back, and dash him in the river. We dragged the river about fifty men dragged the river from the bridge to Teakettle and nothing came up as yet.  So, now it left us with all the unanswered question of where is the body. If they killed him, whatever they did to him, but we as the family are praying for closure. We want to find him because if he is dead, we want to give him a good burial.”

Joseph Myvett

Police say they have questioned one of the persons on the fishing trip who indicated that he left Oswald with the other three members of the group.

ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch

“Police have since located one of those persons who reported that he had left Mister Arnold along with the other three. Since then, police and community members from Roaring Creek have commenced searches in the Iguana Creek area to see if they can locate Oswald Arnold.”

Oswald Arnold, from all accounts, has a colorful past. He was recently released on bail and has a pending matter before the courts. So, did his past catch up with him? His aunt says that she believesthe group of guys knows more about his disappearance and that it may have been a long time in planning connected to a criminal incident.

Natalee Arnold

“Yes, we know he wasn’t a saint. We won’t point fingers and say that he was good. We know that he was a bad person and didn’t listen. He didn’t listen to us. These guys he went with weren’t his friends. He thought they were his friends but they weren’t his friends. They only wanted him close so that they could have gotten to him. And that is what we know, for a fact, as the family because it is things that we are hearing, things that are being talked about and things that they all planned.”

Andrea Polanco

“These guys he was with – are these guys from the village? Did he know them for a very long time?”

Natalee Arnold

“Yes. These are guys from here. He knows them for a very long time. They are in and out of jail. Everyone know them and who they are and what they are capable of.”

Andrea Polanco

“Now, why would they want to kill Ozzy?”

Natalee Arnold

“Because he was a witness to a murder that one of them did. He was a witness and the guy got off the murder. They were all in jail together and we don’t know what transpired in jail and they become friends. When they all came out of jail, he went hanging along with them.”

Andrea Polanco

“Did you anticipate that something like this would happen?”

Natalee Arnold

“Well, ma’am, honestly to be truthful, we knew. We knew that one day it was gonna happen. We knew because the guys they talked it. The same people they talked it to, those are the same ones we get it from. That is why we were trying our best to talk to him, but the answer he gave to us was that he wasn’t scared of them.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, you think this fishing trip was just a cover? They were planning to kill him all along on that trip?”

Natalee Arnold

“This fishing trip was definitely a plan to get rid of him.”

Arnold says while she hopes for the best, she fears the worst for her nephew.

Natalee Arnold

“We are fearing the worst because to our knowledge in Belize here right now how things are going, when someone is missing for a certain time, they either come up with the body dead or we don’t know what to say. But still, in our heart and me, as a believer in Christ, I am keeping my hope that he is alive.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.

The family says they will continue to search for Arnold. If you can assist the search party, you are asked to call Natalee Arnold at 631-6788.