Dangriga resident murdered in Belize City; alleged killer detained

Norman Thompson’s execution was followed by the stabbing murder of twenty-five year old Ezekiel Medina in the city. His body was found early on Monday morning and it took hours for the family to confirm his identity. Medina is originally from Dangriga and he would come to City at least twice monthly. Last week he made his last trip to Belize City and it is believed Medina’s was beaten by a group of men before being stabbed multiple times to the back after he was caught breaking into parked vehicle. Various suspects are in detention and it is known that police have obtained a caution statement from one of the detainees. Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Just after five on Monday morning, the lifeless body of a man was discovered at the corner Partridge and Lavender Streets. At the time, his identity was not known; but he was stabbed three times to the upper right side of the back, he was clothed in a yellow polo shirt, a red back and white ball pants and had a tattoo with the name Ezekiel on the upper left arm.

Voice of: Eyewitness

“I said mien, this guy gotta be drunk. So I went and try to see weh di go on with this bally, but he was already dead mien. So I came and told my sister, wake up, you need to see this stuff out here.  When I went there, this guy was bleeding from the lungs, got a next [bleep] stab wound to the…like two around the lung area and then the next one on the lower back. He gotta die; tongue outta his mouth, blood coming through his nose and [bleep]. Gotta die; he’s already dead. Can’t do nothing for him now.”

The description is what alerted relatives that twenty-five year old Ezekiel Medina, who also goes by the name Ezekiel Hernandez, was murdered. Medina is originally from Dangriga says his sister, but every two weeks would travel to the city for work or to collect money from persons who owed him.

Margaret Cullerton

Margaret Cullerton, Sister of Murder Victim

“He usually up and down, back and forth from Dangriga to Belize because he lived out here quite a while and then he ended up having a girlfriend in Dangriga and he had a three-month old child. He stayed in Dangriga for a year before ih come stay in Belize again.  That day, last week, ih came to me and say make I get wah lee money for passage sis; I gwen dah Belize cause dehn got somebody weh owe me. As soon as I come, I wah give yo back yo money. I said okay then and that was it; that was the last thing ih mention.”

According to police, several persons have been detained and the suspected murder weapon has been retrieved. News Five understands that one of the detainees has also confessed to the crime.

Sgt. Ismael Westby, NCO, CIB Precinct Two, Belize City Police

“So far we do not know the exact motive of him being here. What we can say that in that surrounding where his body was found, we have had certain incidents of vehicle breakage and we don’t know, we can’t actually say that that is the purpose that he was here.”

Duane Moody

“From what we were able to gather, we understand that he was caught while committing a crime. Can you confirm whether you guys have been able to gather that kind of information?”

Ismael Westby

Sgt. Ismael Westby

“Based on what has developed during the investigation so far, that is one of the allegations that we are looking at. But like everything, we have to actually investigate and confirm whether such is true before we can say that actually happened.”

Reporter

“Sir, somebody from the department says that one of the persons that you have in custody actually confessed, admitted, to doing the stabbing and it was because he caught this person, Ezekiel medina breaking into his vehicle.”

Sgt. Ismael Westby

“Based on whatever confession is made, definitely I don’t want to comment much about it due to the fact that it is a possibility that this case will go before the court.”

Duane Moody for News Five.