Pathologist says murder is work of serial killer
The public immediately considered her victim number five of a serial killer, but the police were not so quick to jump to conclusions until they had the results of the post mortem. Now those results are in. News Five spoke with Dr. Mario Estradabran today. What he described is the frightening echo of torture and mutilation that we have heard before, too many times. The following may not be suitable for younger viewers.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Two weeks after the decomposed body of 14 year old Noemi Hernandez was found on a sandy mound at the mouth of the Belize River, the post mortem examination has been completed. Dr. Mario Estradabran, the Police Chief Pathologist says like the other murdered children, Noemi was tortured before she was fatally wounded.
Dr. Mario Estradabran, Police Chief Pathologist
“Especially on the neck and those fatal wounds on the neck have two characteristics. Some of them had puncture characteristics and superficial characteristics and the final ones are slicing injuries or producing the last injury to be sure that the victims may die.”
The Standard 5 student had so many wounds to the upper chest and back, that Estradabran says it is difficult to say just how many times she was stabbed. Estradabran is convinced, from what he has seen in the cases where the victims were not that badly decomposed, that the same person is doing the killings.
Dr. Mario Estradabran
“I would like to say that the similarities are very important in these type of cases. I would like to say that the way how those little girls were killed, are the same way, and I believe it is being done by the same perpetrator. So this perpetrator or this killer is a serious killer, he is a serial killer.”
Estradabran also believes the person uses the same weapon each time he kills and he strongly suspects that the perpetrator has a medical background or access to surgical instruments. The doctor says the wounds he has examined on the young victims resemble cuts that would be made with a certain type of blade and not an ordinary knife.
Jacqueline Woods
“Let’s look at characteristics of the wounds. Do you believe that the same weapon that was used to kill the other children, is the same instrument that was used in this case?”
Dr. Mario Estradabran
“Yes, it is the same instrument. All of them have characteristics of being produced by a sharp cutting instrument. Sharp characteristics which this instrument is similar of a surgical instrument, so it is very very important that the investigators may consider, to continue their investigation.”
Estradabran says he strongly believes Noemi was killed on October 15th, the same day she went missing. The doctor also said the method of disposal was similar to several of the previous cases.
Dr. Mario Estradabran
“Yes we have two previous victims that were in contact with water, one of them was Jackie Malic, she was in a pond of water and also Sherilee Nicholas was in a pond of water also. The only difference with Noemi Hernandez and Sherilee Nicholas and Jackie Malic is the river or the sea. That is still water there, so the perpetrator is still using the way to dispose of the victim which is water.”
The head of the Criminal Investigation Branch of the Police, Mario Vernon says he cannot disclose the details of the investigation into the child murders, but that it is continuing and they are now putting certain pieces of evidence together.
