Two teenage brothers arrested in Lord?s Bank murder

From the very start, lead investigator Mario Vernon said the brutal rape and murder of Lord’s Bank housekeeper Mara Garcia began as a routine amateur robbery by local youths–not some mysterious drug-related retaliation directed against her employer. Today the dramatic arrests and confessions of two teenagers has proved that the soft-spoken Vernon knew what he was talking about. This afternoon, Belize City police held a press conference at the Queen Street station to divulge the details of how the case was cracked.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Tonight two teenagers have been arrested and charged with the murder of twenty-year-old Mara Noemi Garcia, the housekeeper from Ladyville who was viciously gang raped and brutally killed last week Friday. According to the authorities, the fourteen year old and his sixteen year old brother both frequent the Ladyville area, and are believed to be part of a larger criminal ring of at least eight boys who are responsible for several robberies and burglaries in the village. According to Senior Superintendent Mario Vernon, the murder weapon, a two and a half foot blood stained sword–the property of Garcia?s employer–has been recovered.

Sr. Superintendent Mario Vernon, Head, Natl. C.I.B.
?It came as no surprise to me that yesterday in the Ladyville Village area, specifically Vista Del Mar area, four minors really messed up on another burglary. Within that group we found one of the suspects in the Floyd Brown report. From there on it was just a matter of applying interview skills that we came up with the other person that was responsible for the Floyd Brown report. They are two minors, they are brothers; one is sixteen, one is fourteen. We have had confessions from both of them and these confessions were witnessed by their relatives and Justice of the Peace. We subsequently recovered what we believe is the murder weapon and three more items that belongs to Mr. Brown. These minors have since been arrested and charged for murder and burglary to that premises.?

Janelle Chanona
?No charges for rape??

Sr. Supt. Mario Vernon
?No charges of rape because the victim is not alive and she would have had to complain for herself.?

Angel Novelo, Reporter Press
?What did they confess to??

Sr. Supt. Mario Vernon
?They confessed to going into the premises, the both of them, and coincided each other?s story and we have other witnesses who are supporting or corroborating their story. And they confessed to going into the premises and that one of them actually killed the girl.?

Around eleven Tuesday morning, News Five quite coincidentally stumbled upon the crime scene that would eventually lead police to arrest and charge the boys for Garcia?s murder. We understand that four boys broke into a house in the Vista del Mar area, but as they tried to escape police caught up with them in this empty lot on the Northern Highway. One of the boys detained was the fourteen year old now charged. Police say during questioning, all four would point the finger at the sixteen-year-old.

Janelle Chanona
?Are you convinced your case is now airtight, that you have a sealed and signed confession that the case won?t be like what we have been seeing happening, it won?t collapse when it comes to the judiciary part of it??

Sr. Supt. Mario Vernon
?Besides what I?m telling you we have, we have much more and we have sufficient evidence as it is to have preferred those charges.?

Janelle Chanona
?Will this matter be handled in the Magistrate, Supreme Court or because of their ages, Family Court??

Sr. Supt. Mario Vernon
?This matter will eventually go to the Supreme Court because it is an indictable crime.?

Alfonso Noble, 7 News
?The motive for the murder??

Sr. Supt. Mario Vernon
?The motive for the murder was simply to steal.?

Janelle Chanona
?Have you determined what exactly they ended up stealing in the end??

Sr. Supt. Mario Vernon
?Yes they stole games, electronic games that is, quite a number of name brand clothing, cellular phone, little bit of cash here and there, that type of thing.?

Janelle Chanona
?Now you said they stumbled in another robbery. Are they known what you would say ?bad boys? in the area of Ladyville??

Sr. Supt. Mario Vernon
?Yeah. They are known to be, those types of minors. They commit burglaries and they have been in conflict with the law before.?

The brothers have been remanded to Hattieville prison until their trial date. The younger perpetrator resides in Ladyville, while his sixteen-year-old brother lives in Belize City.