Six dead in Cayo fire; was it murder?

For a family of six people to perish in a house fire is a tragedy of immense proportions. But what kind of tragedy is it when evidence indicates that the fire may have been arson, and the deaths a case of premeditated murder. This morning I travelled west in search of answers.

Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Police and fire investigators strongly suspect the fire started in the front part of the upper flat of the two bedroom home, located in the Iguana Creek area of Spanish Lookout. Among the debris the police discovered the bodies of twenty-eight year old Elias Mayen Ayala and twenty two year old Maria Suchite and the couples? four children: seven year old Ingrid Yanira, six year old Alex, four year old Marco Antonio and two year old Victor.

According to lead investigator Sgt. Enrique Aldana, they have been able to determine that the family, whose adults are from Guatemala only moved to the rented location two days ago. Aldana says it was a watchman identified as Roberto Pineda who contacted the police around midnight informing them of the fire.

Sgt. Enrique Aldana, Lead Investigator
?Well according to what we understand from the watchman from this place is that he was altered by the bawling of two persons. He peeped through his window and saw the house engulfed in flames, and that was around twelve thirty this morning.?

However, fire investigators believe the blaze started long before the call was made. They are focusing on why none of the family members were able to make it out of the house before the upper flooring collapsed. Furthermore, National fire service operations officer Michael Middleton says what disturbs him is that the house had both a front and back entrance and the windows were all easily breakable glass louvers.

Michael Middleton, Operations Officer, National Fire Service
?We cannot determine that at this moment. We have to sit down with the police and discuss further.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?So right now you are ruling it as suspicious??

Michael Middleton
?We are leaving it open at this moment. We do not want to speculate.?

As the police and fire investigators sift through the remains it became frighteningly apparent that something other than an accidental fire may have taken place. However authorities say they do not want to speculate at this time

Michael Middleton
?One, we ruled out electricity because there is no electricity in the building or in this area. We ruled out the case from a stove. We found two table top butane stoves but no tanks, and that is what we can rule out at this moment.?

Sgt. Enrique Aldana, Lead Investigator
?I am telling you that matter is under investigation. We are dealing with it from all angles to see what will be the outcome of this investigation.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?But as the police and fire investigators try to find out what happened here, the Ayala family believes that there loved ones were murdered.?

The family resided only a short distance away from the property?s watch man and his wife Robert Pineda and Maria Gonzales. According to Hector Gonzales his sister told him that around nine on Monday night they first became alerted after the dogs started barking and then they heard screams coming from their neighbours? house. Gonzales says his sister told him that the family sounded as if they were being attacked.

Hector Gonzales, Family Friend
?They suspect that it was more than one person.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?Why??

Hector Gonzales
?Because of the way the dogs were barking, they felt that there was more than one person. They felt that people went through the road down to the river bank and that is when they notice that something unusual was happening. So they knew that somebody was around the house at that time. And then right at midnight when they heard the screaming for help?miss Maria was the one crying out for help, just calling my sister and then about twenty minutes after that she heard the little girl screaming. They were so afraid and nervous that is why they couldn?t do anything. That is the biggest trauma for them because they heard the family crying out for help and they couldn?t do anything. They were afraid that they would be killed too.?

But who would want to kill a young family of six? Gloria Ayala De Rodriquez says it was only this morning that she was told about what happed to her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren She also recalls that six months ago her son go into a misunderstanding with a man she does not know.

Gloria Ayala De Rodriquez, Mother of Deceased
?English Translations-?I do not know who the person is, but all I know is that my son said the person was supposed to fix a bike for him and he did not like it when he charged him and that is where the disagreement started. But I do not know if that person is involved.? I am shocked over what happened to my son and his family.?

According to Gonzales it was only on Monday morning that Ayala told his brother in law that sometime over the weekend a couple of men had threatened to kill him.

Hector Gonzales
?They threatened him that he was going to be killed; so he said that, first thing in the morning on Monday, he told my brother-in-law that he was threatened last night.?

We do not know if the police believe the reports or what evidence they have been able to collect but they have detained Pineda for questioning.

Hector Gonzales
?The sources I got was for information, and until this investigation is over they will let him go.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?Do you believe he was involved??

Hector Gonzales
?No. I don?t think that he has anything to do with the incident. They had good relationship with the family.?

The police say they are also investigating to see if this case is linked to the deaths another Guatemalan family whose burnt remains were found inside their rented house situated in
Blackman Eddy Village. The parents and their baby were chopped to death and their corpse set ablaze.

Sgt. Enrique Aldana
?I understand there was a similar incident a couple months ago and we are looking at that too.?

Today as the community struggles to understand this tragedy.
The staff and students of neighbouring Unitedville Primary School try to cope with the deaths of two of their classmates, Yanira and Alex who were both in Infant one.

Juanita Guerra, Teacher, United Ville Primary School
?It was a tragedy. It affected me because one month I had been with them, and I was getting accustom to them. Well Alex and Yanira were quiet students and they were so friendly. I did not have any complaints about them.?

The police are now awaiting the results of a post mortem that they hope will lead them to an arrest in what appears to be one of the most devastating crimes in Belizean history.

That post mortem, which came in late this evening, concludes that the six victims burned to death. A gruesome detail supplied to News Five by a law enforcement source, indicates that a detached arm of one of the child victims found in the debris appears to have been cleanly severed, as if chopped off by a machete.