Body of Guatemalan national found without a hand
Insp. Alton Alvarez
While Patrick Brown is now in police custody, officers from the Inter-mediate Southern Formation in Independence Village are looking for suspects in the nation’s latest known homicide. On Sunday, following a tip, police headed out to a feeder road off the Southern Highway, where they found the decomposed body of a Guatemalan national, who was living in the Cow Pen area. Ramiro Santoya’s right hand was cut off at the wrist, but the limb was not found at the scene. Santoya has no known relatives in Belize, but friends say they believed he had returned to his home country when they did not see him for almost two weeks. It’s a tough case for police to crack and as the officer in charge down south told us today via phone, they have no leads as yet.
Via Phone: Insp. Alton Alvarez, O.C., Inter-mediate Southern Formation
“Yesterday, February seventh 2010, at around nine-thirty p.m. based on information received, Independence Police, visited a feeder road located approximately a half kilometer off the Southern Highway between miles thirty-four and thirty-six. The decomposing body has been identified as Ramiro Perez Santoya. He is a twenty-two year old Guatemalan clothes vendor of Independence Village. The body was observed in a face down position and information suggests that he was last seen alive on the twenty-eighth of January 2010. Today a post mortem examination was conducted by the police pathologists, Dr. Mario Estradabran between one p.m. and three-thirty p.m. The doctor certified that the deceased died from traumatic shock due to multiple shot wounds to the body.”
Delahnie Bain
“Do you have any leads or anything at this time?”
Via Phone: Insp. Alton Alvarez
”Currently the police are pursing all leads, but we do not have any tangible information at this time to pursue or to apprehend anyone at this time.”
Delahnie Bain
“Did Mr. Santoya have any relatives in Cow Pen where he lived?”
Via Phone: Insp. Alton Alvarez
“Not as far as we know. I can say that he had friends within this area and they are the ones who reportedly mentioned us that he was last seen alive on the twenty-eighth of January of this year.”
Delahnie Bain
“And there were no missing reports or anything?”
Via Phone: Insp. Alton Alvarez
“No missing reports were made. According to friends, they believed that he was in the Guatemala area; had returned to Guatemala and that is why no report was made with regards to this matter.”
Santoya is the tenth person to be murdered since the beginning of the year.
