Ladyville resident killed in accident, family believes foul play

Sherlet Longsworth

Ladyville police are investigating the death of a woman in the early morning of Independence Day and are treating it as a hit and run accident. Thirty-six year old Sherlet Longsworth, a mother of three, lost her life sometime after three a.m. on Independence morning. Police believe she was ran over and killed, but the driver has not been identified. A Belize City man driving on Mirage Road made the gruesome discovery; Longsworth was lying face down in a pool of blood with multiple injuries to her body. But while police are treating the incident as a case of hit and run, Longsworth’s family told Duane Moody they feel that the incident was in fact premeditated.

Duane Moody, Reporting

This cluster of stones here on Marage Road in Ladyville just a stone’s throw off the Northern Highway is where the lifeless body of thirty-six year old Sherlet Longsworth was found around three a.m. on Independence Day. She was lying in a pool of blood and bleeding from the mouth and head. Longsworth was knocked down and killed allegedly by a black pick up.

Fitzroy Yearwood

Insp. Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer

“Ladyville police visited a scene on Marage Road where they saw the lifeless body of Sherlet Longsworth, thirty-six years. She was dressed in a blue jeans pants and a black blouse. We saw a pair of sandals not too far from the body which would suggest she was carrying that in her hands at the time that she was hit from behind in a motor vehicle. The tire track on her body would suggest that she was hit from behind because you can see tire marks on the back and on the left side of the face. I can recall that her left arms was broken somewhere in this area and one of her eyes, I think the right eye was out from the socket.”

Longsworth was last seen around two-thirty a.m. by her daughter, eighteen year old Jennifer Meighan, in front of Happy Hour, a bar, just about two minutes away from their home on Egbert Quilter Avenue. She is said to have then gone over to Mark’s Bar near Price Barracks. But since that establishment was closed at eleven that night, she was walking home using the Marage Road route, when her life was taken.

Jennifer Meighan, Daughter of Deceased

“When the club done we walk out. We mi deh ina Club INC and she mi deh over dah Happy Hour. So I see she front of di door but I neva hail ahn, I shake my head and I walk come home. Bout like after two or an hour and a half, when my auntie gone; she come back and say that dah my ma. She mi di come home from wah bar, but the bar mi close so she mi di come home; she mi di walk come home.  I see the body and before I reach exactly by the body, I see my ma red belt. And I halla; that dah my ma; that dah my ma and she mi deh right deh pan di ground di lay down dead.”

The family is pleading for justice in finding Longsworth’s killer. They believe that the hit and run was intentional.

Jennifer Meighan

“Weeks before she mi already make a report and they mi have this person detained, but it looks like this person mi let goh—dehn let ahn out—and ih only could be that person mussi come back fi try harm ahn. Because ih mi wah be wah court case so ih mussi harm ahn fi make di court case drop.”

Tiffany Moya, Niece of Deceased

“From what we saw on the ground, she was seen laying there in a pool of blood with her sandals in her left hand; her arms were broken, she had a wound to her head, a buss to her head and she was just laying there like someone just left her there.”

Both Meighan and Moya spoke of the last words shared with Longsworth and how they would remember her.

Tiffany Moya

Tiffany Moya

“She was a lovely person, liked to smile. She had no argument with people. Everybody around here know Sherlet like to take her taste, run joke, but I can’t see yet why while someone would want to chance my aunt especially leaving her out there like a piece of nothing on the street.”

Jennifer Meighan

Jennifer Meighan

“We always talk our future to she and she advised we. I wah miss her a lot because I does always talk to my ma too. Last words I mi tell ahn dah ma goh home. I tell ahn ma goh home and ih shake ih head and say yes Jennifer I gwen home. So when we gone back ina the club, she mi still deh out dehn, so I say she mussi only mi wah take through yah fi go home.”

Tiffany Moya

“The last time I see her was about eight o’clock when they were all sitting outside taking a drink bout I neva know it mi wah be the last time I mi wah see my auntie. It sad cause everybody have wah family member weh dehn love. To hurt somebody family members ih noh normal. Anybody weh see anything or hear anything you could just report it to the police because we want at least justice outta this.”

Longsworth leaves behind two daughters and one son. Duane Moody for News Five.