Noel Leal Jr. Executed in Mahogany Heights Community

Noel Leal Jr.

The son of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Noel Leal Junior, was executed and his Ladyville house ransacked likely by his killer over the weekend. Leal Junior was shot once to the back of his head inside his vehicle in an isolated area in the Mahogany Heights community on the George Price Highway. The thirty-three-year–old Ladyville resident is believed to have known his killer who pulled the trigger on Saturday night.  His body was found many hours later. Leal Junior’s was well-known to the law; his criminal record included drug trafficking as well as firearm charges. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Noel Leal Junior, the son of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, was executed and his body discovered slumped over the steering wheel to his Volkswagen van in an isolated area of the Mahogany Heights Community off the George Price Highway. The thirty-three-year-old was shot once to the back of the head. A resident says it happened around nine-thirty p.m. on Saturday, but police responded to the scene around one-forty-five on Sunday morning. News Five understands that Leal’s vehicle was spotted in the community earlier that day and it is not known what could have triggered the murder. It is believed though that Leal Junior was killed by someone he knew.

Alejandro Cowo

ASP Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., Belize City

“At about two in the morning, Hattieville police visited a road that leads from Mahogany Heights to Democracia Village where they observed a blue in colour Volkswagen. Inside of the vehicle there was the motionless body of a male person, who was seated on the driver’s side of the vehicle. The person had what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the back of the head and the bullet went through the front side of his face and exited the windshield of the vehicle. The body was later identified as that of Noel Leal Junior.”

According to the investigation so far, it would appear that the killer or killers were looking for something because the keys to his house were missing from the murder scene. Later that day, however, police were also called out to his house in Ladyville which had been ransacked and several items missing from within.

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“Yes, just after the discovery of his body, family members reported to the police that they found the house slightly open, one of the doors. Open police inspecting the house at number thirteen Caesar’s Street, they went into the residence and observed that the residence was ransacked. Up to now, the family cannot ascertain what was stolen from inside the house. Yes, we understand that there were a few items that are missing, but we cannot establish exactly what all missing from the house.”

Leal Junior was no stranger to the law; he had been charged multiple times for the trafficking of marijuana and was reputedly involved in illegal activity. In June of 2017, he was arraigned for over fourteen pounds of cannabis and prior to that, he was arrested in Orange Walk for guns and ammunition. So could this have been a drug-related killing?

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“It is something that we are looking at. We cannot tell you what is missing from the house as we are still communicating with family members for them to verify if indeed anything is missing from the house. Yes, they have confirmed that small things have been missing, but it is nothing that they have said that any money or any drugs was inside of the house.”

Reporter

“Is there any known motive for the crime? Do you all know who he was last seen with?”

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“Well that is something that we are following up. We understand that he was here in Belize City sometime after nine and that was the last time that he was seen alive.”

Reporter

“Are you all looking at this as a crime of opportunity, as a drug-related crime or as a gang-related crime?”

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“It’s a murder investigation that we are following up at this moment.”

Duane Moody for News Five.