Former cop and suspect in death of 12 year old disappears

Twelve year old Saida Noemi Veliz of Frank’s Eddy Village was murdered back in March. No one was ever charged with her homicide but now there is a new twist to this unresolved case. The facts are that on March thirteenth, Saida was last seen getting into a vehicle reportedly driven by a former volunteer special police constable who visited the village regularly. But it was not until eleven days later on March twenty-fourth when Belmopan police made the grisly discovery of Saida’s half-nude body in a ditch near a dumpsite in Cotton Tree. And now the former constable, thirty year old Luis Guerra, the main suspect in the case, has gone missing. News Five spoke with Guerra’s brother, Geovanni, who said that Guerra left his home in Cotton Tree Village on Friday morning in his grey Toyota Corolla car en route to Melchor, Guatemala, to purchase car parts. He was accompanied by a mechanic who returned to the village but the former constable has not. Geovanni says that he knows his brother has received many threats since the murder of the young girl.

Geovanni Guerra, Brother of Missing Person
“So far that I know that he did got to the western border, I have no idea. My sister did went Saturday evening to check with the Guatemalan authorities to see if probably he was locked down and no, they didn’t have anything with his name there at the Guatemalan authorities.”

Duane Moody
“Your brother was the individual that is suspected to have killed the young lady, Miss Saida Veliz from the Franks Eddy Village, is that so?”

Geovanni Guerra
“Yes, yes sir the accusations are saying that he was the one that killed the girl.”

Duane Moody
“Did he do it sir?”

Geovanni Guerra
“Honestly, he’s told me that no he did not and so I told him that either way we would have supported him to get a lawyer to fight the case.”

Duane Moody
“Sir, it is believed that Luis is possibly on the run because information last received was that they are getting closer and closer to pinning it on him and verifying that he did took the life of the twelve year old girl. Is that possible that he is running from the cops?”

Geovanni Guerra
“The last time I spoke to him was late Thursday evening and he actually called me in San Pedro and asked me if—because my dad was gonna actually give him some money and I was gonna actually give him some money so that we can actually get the lawyer because on a day to day base he was actually molested and threatened by the family of the little girl, going up and saying we’re gonna get rid of you.”

Duane Moody
“But Geovanni, what do you feel happened to your brother? Do you feel that someone killed him, foul play?”

Geovanni Guerra
“Well, I believe it’s something like that because you know if the mechanic went with my brother down to the western border, according to their plans, and he made it back, why could not he say where my brother is? According to what I heard, is that when they got to the border, the mechanic said that my brother said that he is going to continue on going into Melchor and let him go back. We do not know if he ever got to the border, that’s the thing we want to know.”

The mechanic, Alex Lopez, has been questioned and released by the police.

When we contacted Officer in Charge of the Belmopan Police, Senior Superintendent Aaron Guzman, he told us that the department is piecing together the puzzle of the girl’s murder.

Sr. Supt. Aaron Guzman, O.C. Belmopan Police
“A person has the right to come and make a complaint but the indications are pointing that he went to Melchor de Mencos. Now, if he hadn’t returned from Melchor de Mencos, that’s nothing we can do technically. If he chose to stay in Guatemala, that’s a choice that he makes on his own. If he is held there unlawfully, or something unlawful was done to him there in Melchor, that’s out of our jurisdiction; that’s in Guatemala and we can’t do anything. We can try to work with our counterparts over there to try to find out and that would only be to inform the family. You need evidence to prove the case. We did go back and retrieve from Mr. Guerra certain things—I won’t say what they are—that we believe would be hard evidence in relation to this case.”

Duane Moody
“Mr. Guerra had been threatened various times by the family of Ms. Veliz, of the victim. Do you know anything of that sort?”

Sr. Supt. Aaron Guzman
“He has not made any report to us that he was threatened in any way, shape or form by anyone.”

Duane Moody
“Okay, and also they feel that these people do know of his whereabouts and they are the ones that maybe have him in any way or form.”

Sr. Supt. Aaron Guzman
“Well, Mr. Moody, then that would go contrary to the report that we received from his common-law; that he left saying he was going to Melchor. If they are saying differently, then maybe it is that that relative needs to come to the police and give a statement or tell us something.”