Lamanai Lagoon Floater Identified
On the Phone: Insp. Nicholas Palomo
The partially decomposed body of a Honduran national was fished out of the Lamanai lagoon by Orange Walk police on Wednesday afternoon. The severed remains had what appeared to be various injuries, including a gunshot wound to the forehead and right ear. Fifty-one-year-old Gino Urbina, a resident of Indian Church, was in the village socializing with three other men on Saturday. That’s when he was last seen alive. The grisly discovery was made several days later when a tour guide happened upon the body floating in the lagoon. While police were initially unable to identify the corpse, an autopsy conducted on site determined that Urbina had been murdered. His hands and feet were bound together. This afternoon, Inspector Nicholas Palomo, Deputy Officer Commanding Orange Walk Police, gave an update on the homicide, as well as search efforts for the body of an unidentified man who drowned in the New River on Monday.
On the phone: Insp. Nicholas Palomo, Deputy O.C., Orange Walk Police
“On yesterday’s date, a partially decomposed severed body of a male person was found in the Lamanai lagoon in the Indian Church area. The body was taken to the lagoon banks where a post mortem was conducted. At the conclusion of the post mortem it was noticed that the person had one single gunshot wound with an entry to the forehead about an inch from the left eye and an exit wound almost on top of the right ear. The body was identified to be that of Mr. Gino Urbina, he is fifty-one-years-old, a Honduran national and resident of Indian Church Village. He was last seen on Saturday night drinking with three fellows from the same village. At this time police are still investigating and trying to locate the three persons that were drinking at a local bar with the now deceased [person].”
Isani Cayetano
“Can you now give us an update in the ongoing search for a second body of an individual presumed drowned in the New River on Monday evening?”
On the Phone: Nicholas Palomo
“Well the coastguard have now called off the search, they couldn’t find any body. Right now it has been three days so we are expecting the body, if anything, to float atop of the river so we still have some volunteers and police officers out there trying to search for the body.”
The murder of Gino Urbino is the second homicide in Indian Church since the beginning of the year. His death succeeds that of fifty-one-year-old Francisco Arevalo, who was chopped to death on January sixteenth.
