American National Found Dead on San Pedro, Was He Murdered?

Delbert Wayne Fenn

Police also have another case to solve, but in La Isla Bonita. It involves the mysterious death of a U.S. national who retired and lived on the island right up till the time of his untimely death. The body of fifty year old Delbert Wayne Fenn was discovered around ten-thirty on Tuesday morning on the bathroom floor of his condo at Cloisters Apartments on the north side of San Pedro Ambergris Caye.  Fenn’s body was in an advance state of decomposition, which meant that he was dead for some days, and an initial inspection of the body would reveal no sign of physical violence. A post-mortem conducted by Doctor Mario Estradabran, however, certified the cause of death as exsanguinations due to external bleeding from apparent stab wounds to the right shoulder and upper arm. News Five’s Duane Moody headed to the island today to find answers.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Fifty year old retired US national, Delbert Wayne Fenn, had been living on San Pedro for several years now. He was staying here at Cloisters Apartments located less than a mile north of the town. But something went wrong over the past weekend because he was found dead on the bathroom floor of his apartment.  A forensic team from Belize City is currently on the island processing the scene for evidence.

Sgt. Lenancio Bol, Station Sergeant, San Pedro Police

“Police was called out sometime after ten-thirty a.m. on yesterday’s date which is Tuesday, October twenty-seventh, 2015 at Cloisters Apartment room number one-o-two of information of a sudden death. After they entered the room, they found the lifeless body of a male person, Caucasian descent, lying face down in a pool of red substance, suspected to be blood. The body was definitely in an advance state of decomposition. From identification through passport, we learnt this individual name to be Delbert Wayne Fenn.”

Fenn, a retired deep water diver, was last seen alive on Friday on the island, but sometime after ten on Tuesday, a foul smell came from his apartment. Checks made inside by employees led to the discovery of the badly decomposed body of Fenn face down in a pool of his blood. But was the U.S. national killed? According to a postmortem exam, Fenn had several cut wounds to the upper body.

Sgt. Lenancio Bol

“We still remain that it is a sudden death. The investigation is still ongoing; it is still young. At this point in time, yes they have done a post mortem examination, but they are still ruling the incident as a sudden death. The body was examined by both the police and Doctor Estradabran, we suspect injuries to be two stab wounds—one to the right shoulder and one to the right posterior forearm. The conclusion of the examination revealed by Doctor Estrabran that the cause of death was exsanguinations due to external bleeding.”

Lenancio Bol

So why is the police still classifying the case as that of a sudden death?

Sgt. Lenancio Bol

“Investigators have certain information pertaining to not only what was seen, but also people are coming forward in saying certain things. Based on that we do not want to jump to a hasty conclusion and say it is a murder. That’s the reason why and like I said, the investigation is a bit young so we don’t want to just jump to that conclusion. The investigators are saying they have some questions, some concern so I would believe that they have some things that they are looking at separately in regards to this same investigation.”

Duane Moody for News Five.