Man charged with beating death of Orange Walk residents

Today, twenty-one year old Eustagio Blanco was charged with two counts of murder and robbery in connection with the beating death of Hipolito Muy and Orlando Reyes on the San Juan/San Pablo road in the Orange Walk district. The men who worked in the Vector Control Programme in the Ministry of Health had gone to Corozal Town on Friday to collect their pay. On their way back to Orange Walk the two friends stopped by a club in San Pablo. After socializing, Reyes called his family in Orange Walk Town to tell them that he had missed the bus and would be spending the night at Muy’s house in San Juan Village. But as the men walked down the road, several men approached them, beat them to death and robbed them. According to Inspector of Police James Magdaleno, on Saturday they caught Blanco hiding in a cane field in the same area where the bodies were found. Magdaleno said they have also detained three other men they suspect were involved in the double murder. Blanco appeared in Orange Walk Magistrate Court this evening and has been remanded to Hattieville Prison.