Brothers shot to death in taxi
After disappearances and murders at sea, violence is back on the mainland. Two brothers were shot over the weekend in another execution style killing. And, as in the case of Emil Franklin and his companions killed last week near English Caye, one of the dead men had also been questioned by police in connection with a murder but released. The bodies of twenty-five year old Fredrick “Bibi” Neal and twenty-six year old Vincent “Big Boy” Jones were found in Neal’s taxi between miles seven and eight on the Northern Highway Saturday morning. The pair had gunshot wounds to their heads and necks. Neal had been a suspect in the killing of Samantha Gordon, a teenager found dead near Vista Del Mar late last year. He had been released by police because of insufficient evidence. A family member told News Five that she suspects the men were killed by someone who believed they had something to do with Samantha’s murder. News Five also spoke to Neal and Jones’ sister who asked that her face not be shown because she fears for her life. She says when she first heard her brothers were dead, she was told that Neal’s taxi had crashed and she had no idea what she was about to see.
Victims’ sister
“When I got to find out it was about one thirty when they came to my house and told me that my two brothers were dead. I didn’t know how to believe it. I came to my mom; nobody didn’t know anything about it. And then we went to the hospital and hospital said they did not know anything. We caught a car and after that the car caught the bus for us and when we reached we saw the car and I just could not take that.
The bullet came through Frederick’s head and end up in the front of the vehicle. I think it was a forty-five they were shot with because police said it was a forty-five. “Big Boy” got it here. And they said that the person was supposed to be in the car that shot them. They said that the third person was in the car.”
Vincent Jones was to appear in court next month to answer to charges he assaulted Mark Gordon, Samantha Gordon’s brother. The killing of Neal and Jones is the second incident in less than a week in which people have been found murdered execution style.
In an unrelated incident last week, three men, Emil Franklin, Lyndon Raymond and Geoffrey Zuniga, who had been arrested for stealing a skiff and engine belonging to missing English Caye lighthouse keeper Charles Garbutt were found with multiple gunshot wounds in the sea near English Caye. The men had been tied to their skiff, “Shakell”. The men were to have appeared in court today to answer charges of handling stolen goods. Garbutt, his wife and three children disappeared without a trace in the same area the week before Christmas. Franklin’s girlfriend Janet Vasquez has alleged that the men were threatened by members of the Garbutt family. So far no arrests have been made in connection with these deaths or the Garbutts disappearance. In all of these recent murders there has been speculation that drugs were involved.
