UB Student Murdered and Buried in Shallow Grave

Kevin Frutos

Two men lost their lives in separate murders in the city and the Capital. Five days after he was reported missing, a Bullet Tree resident was found murdered and partially buried in some bushes off the George Price Boulevard in Belmopan. A post mortem conducted this afternoon on the body of twenty-six-year-old Kevin Frutos shows that his throat was slashed before he was disposed off.  Reporter Andrea Polanco was in Belmopan today and tells us more about the murder of the U.B. student.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

This morning twenty-six-year-old Kevin Frutos’s decomposing body was found buried in this shallow grave several yards off the George Price Boulevard in Belmopan. The family is trying to understand what happened. They suspect that he may have been robbed and then killed.

Bewley Diaz, Sister-in-law of the Deceased

“We, as a family, have come to speculate that it is robbery because we come to understand that on that day, it was the Friday and he had just gotten paid and cashed his check. So, that is our only motive as a family that we have come up with so far.”

Andrea Polanco

“Do you know if he was found with his personal belongings on him? His phone or anything else was found on him?”

Bewley Diaz

“No. As far as we know, his phone was stolen and his belongings were not on him.”

Bewley Diaz

Andrea Polanco

“So, he had no wallet; no money?”

Bewley Diaz

“No. Nothing. They just ker it. No documents or nothing to identify him. The family was called to go on the scene to identify his body.”

Frutos went missing about five days ago. He was last seen alive at the Bus Terminal in Belmopan on Friday night.

Bewley Diaz

“He was last seen nine-thirty being dropped off at the Belmopan terminal and from there we haven’t had any record of him being seen or heard from since then. When the family tried to call his phone it went straight to voicemail. And from then we have been searching for him. Monday was the day we officially made a report to the police stating that he was missing.”

And Frutos’s family has been searching for him ever since he disappeared. That search brought them back to Belmopan this morning – where they found out about the gruesome discovery.

Bewley Diaz

“His family has been searching endlessly for him. We have been searching whole of Cayo. His family, his brothers were searching Bullet Tree. We were given several tips but to no avail. And so today we came to Belmopan to search and based on a tip we were informed that Kevin was found.”

Andrea Polanco

“Do you know who found him or how they came across his body?”

Bewley Diaz

“It was supposedly an anonymous tip that was given to the police and they were the ones that discovered Kevin’s body.”

The family says that when they didn’t find him, they suspected something tragic might have happened and that was confirmed today. But despite their grief, the family says they got some closure today.

Andrea Polanco

“So, you said after a few days and you didn’t find him, you figured something was wrong?”

Baldemar Gutierrez

Baldemar Gutierrez, Uncle of the Deceased

“Right. Exactly. We figured that but they told us it was in San Ignacio somewhere along the riverside so we searched and searched but we didn’t find him. We just wanted to find him because we didn’t want to leave him out there abandoned. So we found him and that is very good for us. It is better now than to have him out there.”

Kevin Frutos was a student at the University of Belize where he was pursuing a Bachelors Degree. He was also finishing up an internship. His family describes him as an easy going guy.

 Bewley Diaz

“He was both working and pursuing his Bachelors Degree. Kevin is a person who goes to school and goes directly home. So to have this happen to him is very devastating to his family and friends and those who know Kevin. Everybody would say that the family would take up for their relatives when they are found dead but Kevin was a really genuine and humble man. Everybody that knows Kevin, especially from the Cayo area, know that Kevin is very sweet. He is a very humble young man and he doesn’t interfere with anybody.”

Baldemar Gutierrez

“All I want is justice for him because I don’t think he deserved this.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.