3 charged for woman’s murder

Three men from San Narciso Village in the Corozal District have been arrested for the murder of a young Guatemalan woman. Vivien Ysenia Mendez Cruz, age thirty-four, was last seen by a female travelling companion who got off a bus with her around nine on Monday night at the junction of the Northern Highway and the road to Buena Vista Village in Corozal. The friend went ahead in search of a ride, but when she returned, Cruz was gone. Her body was found the next day off the highway between miles sixty-five and sixty-six. A post mortem revealed she died from a blow to the head. An aggressive investigation by Corozal police led them to pick up twenty-seven year old Carlos Rodriguez, twenty-eight year old Patrick Richard Balam, and twenty-nine year old Adrian Estrella. On Thursday, the men were jointly charged in Corozal Magistrate’s Court with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were remanded to Hattieville prison where they will await trial, beginning July nineteenth. It is believed that Cruz accepted a ride from the men who were travelling in Rodriguez’s white Astro van.