Three charged in case of missing policeman

The case of missing police officer Morris Martinez has become a homicide investigation…and while no body has yet been found, three suspects have been charged with robbery and are expected to eventually face charges of murder. I’ve just returned from Corozal with the latest developments.

Superintendent David Henderson, O.I.C., Corozal Police
?Based on what we have gathered so far it is believed that he has been murdered.?

Patrick Jones
? And where is his body??

Superintendent David Henderson
?Well we are still searching at this time. We have an intensive search out and we will ensure that we find that body at the end of that day.?

Patrick Jones, Reporting
As hope of finding police constable Morris Martinez alive fades, police are scouring the Corozal countryside to try and locate the missing law enforcement officer. Martinez, who was stationed in Orange Walk, disappeared after he came off duty on December twenty-second. Officer in charge of Corozal police, Superintendent David Henderson, says it?s looking like Martinez met his demise at this popular trysting site on the Pueblo Nuevo Road.

Patrick Jones
?While the search continues for Constable Morris Martinez, still listed as missing, police here in Corozal have charged three men, all from the district for robbing the officer and his female companion on December twenty-second.?

David Henderson
?Well based on investigation conducted by the police it is believed that these people had kidnapped, robbed P.C. Martinez and another female.?

Patrick Jones
?When were these three men taken into custody and what led to their arrest??

David Henderson
?Based on our investigations over the weekend all three persons charged were taken into custody and we have since then charged them based on some evidence we have gathered.?

The men charged are thirty-three year old Elio Lopez, twenty-nine year old Apolonio Cervera and twenty six year old Edmund Crawford Sanker Junior. In Court this afternoon, Henderson strongly objected to bail and Magistrate Emerita Ascoli concurred and the three were remanded to Hattieville Prison.

David Henderson
?One we know that P.C. Martinez and the lady were robbed and they were robbed with firearm. And again we have an Intensive Investigation out at this time and we do not want anybody to hinder our investigation. And at the same time the law makes it clear under the Crime Control Act that once you rob with firearm, then bail should not be given to the suspect.?

Patrick Jones
?Any idea what P.C. Martinez would have been doing in a secluded are like this on December twenty-second??

David Henderson
?Well I don?t want to comment on that. But I know that he was with a female.?

When the defendants were asked if they had anything to say Cervera and Sanker both told the Magistrate that they have alibis for their whereabouts on December twenty-second. Lopez declined comment. Henderson says the intense police search is targeting several areas in Corozal District and that more people are likely to be picked up as it is believe that Martinez was the victim of a vicious gang, headed by the three suspects.

Patrick Jones
?The case has been set for hearing on the twenty-seventh of January, do you believe that your investigation would have concluded sufficiently enough to take to trial on the twenty-seventh.

David Henderson
?Well you know we have quite a number of people that we are interviewing and I know that this will be a long investigation but I know that we will have, maybe by that time we will have enough evidence or we will find that body to have a murder charge.?

?We have to try to do everything possible. I know that some of the witnesses are being threatened at this time. In fact we have right now one of the suspects who will be charged shortly for threatening one of his co-accomplices.?

While it appears that Martinez was the victim of what started out as a robbery, Henderson says that somehow the suspects must have realized he was a policeman as he was wearing his uniform pants.

All three were charged with robbing the woman of a gold earring and a hundred Belize dollars in cash. They were additionally charged with robbing Martinez of a gold chain, medal and gold bracelet along with three hundred dollars in cash.