Body of Missing Businessman Found; Taxi Man Charged

The body of sixty-six-year-old Owen Tucker Senior was discovered today in Lemonal Village. Reports are that the Belizean/American businessman, who had purchased the Crocland property, was murdered and his body dumped in the village. Even before his body was discovered, this morning, Jerome Crawford, his driver with whom he had a recent squabble, was charged and arraigned for his murder. Information is that Crawford has confessed to the killing. But before the body was found, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams told the media that police had already collected circumstantial evidence against Crawford, and while having no body would have made the case a bit harder to prove, he reminded of how Vybz Kartel of Jamaica was convicted of a murder in the absence of the victim’s body. But since the body has now been found, the presumption is that the case against the accused is now even more solid. Williams shared what led to the detention of Jerome Crawford.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Over the weekend we had a breakthrough, where we had interviewed certain persons and certain information was obtained. That information that was obtained led to the searching of the home of one Mr. Crawford, who resides in Belize City. At the home we found one twelve gauge shotgun, which we believe is the weapon of choice used to murder Mr. Tucker. Mr. Crawford was taken into custody and was interviewed by the police. He did not cooperate with the investigation, but what our investigation is showing so far is that MR Crawford had an issue with Mr. Tucker over money. Mr. Crawford is a former employee of Mr. Tucker and they had an issue over money. Mr. Crawford went to the farm where Mr. Tucker was and he shot Mr. Tucker with the shotgun and wrapped his body in a rug and took it to dispose of it. We have direct evidence where that is concerned, and like I said, we will try to do more to make the case stronger. I always believe that in any prosecution you can never have too much evidence, you can have too little, so the more we get, the better it’s going to be for us. We have also located and impounded the vehicle that was used to move the body from where it was he was shot to another location. We did process that vehicle. We used the Luminol test and that revealed blood in the trunk of that vehicle. We have obtained those samples and it will be sent for D.N.A., so if the D.N.A. comes back and proves that Mr. Tucker’s body was in that vehicle, then that will make the case even stronger.”

Crawford

Crawford appeared before Magistrate Dennison Mannon. No plea was taken and due to the nature of the offense and bail was denied. The forty-year-old taxi driver of a York Street address was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until January twenty-sixth, 2023.