Sand Hill resident murdered in Burrell Boom

Ellis Dawson

The body of a Sand Hill resident was fished out of the river in Burrell Boom on Tuesday morning. It had multiple stab wounds; in fact, as many as twenty. And because of its state of decomposition it had to be buried on site. The grieving family, however, has now made proper burial arrangements for Ellis Dawson. News Five’s Isani Cayetano spoke to family members today about what is now considered as a case of murder.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Discontent with the haste in which their loved one was buried on Tuesday, family and friends of Ellis Dawson were this afternoon preparing a proper gravesite at the cemetery in Sand Hill Village.  His badly decomposed and mutilated body was fished out of the Belize River in Burrell Boom around nine in the morning.  Dawson’s remains were later identified by David Roland Jr., a close friend of his.

David Roland Jr., Friend of Deceased

David Roland Jr.

“When I sih di body, me, myself couldn’t decide if da mi Ellis you know, because di full body mi decomposed, you know.  And di tattoo dehn pan ih hand, anybody coulda mi name Compe or anybody coulda mi have dehn other name right.  So I suggest dat wi put up di picture lee bigga so I coulda mi see it, yo undastand, pan fi dehn screen.  So when dehn put it up I noh dat Ellis have wah finga weh missing so dat when I sih di [picture], you know, and by chance dat da mi di same hand weh neva missing because then when I sih di body, I think, I noh know if ih mi missing wahn foot but I sure ih mi missing wahn hand.  Dat da mi di same hand weh mi have ahn di finga weh missing.”

Dawson was stabbed numerous times, as many as twenty wounds, to various parts of the body.  It is unclear what precipitated the gruesome murder.  Retrieval of the corpse was done by a search party that had set out to find him moments earlier.  Because of its advanced state of decay, the body had to be buried immediately.

Tyrone Bood, Brother-In-Law of Deceased

“He went missing from Saturday night and the police had gotten a report from a couple friends around here but it needed to have been a certain amount of days so that they can push out their search team.  When the search went out the same day, that was Tuesday morning, [that was] the same day they found a body in the river by Boom, floating.  Some people got a flash news but I guess we never heard it and when the family really got to hear it, it just took a friend to really them to do the investigation because of the decomposition that they heard the body was in.”

Isani Cayetano

“What do you guys believe may have taken place?  It has been ruled a case of foul play, do you believe he may have been associating with someone in that area?  Do you believe that his body was dumped elsewhere and it just floated downstream?”

David Roland Jr.

“Well, me, thinking for a fact when I know Ellis as wahn guy, Ellis dah noh wah trouble guy none at all, yo understand.  He’s a village guy, normal guy, very nice and helping guy, yo undastand.  So I know fi wahn fact ih get involved wid somebody different and somebody chance ahn and hurt ahn.”

Plans to exhume the corpse from a makeshift resting place, according to the family, are already underway, following approval from the relevant authorities.  Burying Dawson here will bring some closure but it will not solve the mystery of his murder.

David Roland Jr.

Tyrone Bood

“I woulda wahn dehn get da bottom ah dat because dat da wah good guy outta wi village and dah so much time dis happen eena wi village and weh wi wah stand up and do.  I da wahn councilor eena dis village yo undastand and every time dis wahn happen and nobody noh wahn come out fi we, because I sure people deh pan dis village weh know and instead dehn cohn help we dis da weh happen every time that’s why wih eena dis situation ya.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.