84-year-old found bound, gagged, dead
An eighty-four year old is supposed to die of natural causes, not murder. But one elderly Belizean never got the chance to expire peacefully among loved ones. Instead, he met a violent death at the hands of a twisted assailant who is still on the loose. Patrick Jones has the story.
G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
“He has a relative who brings food for him and when she came and he did not respond, then naturally she called the police.”
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Shortly after noon today, police visited the Del Monte Mini Market on Central American Boulevard, where the proprietor, eighty-four year old Eustace Vernon, failed to answer repeated attempts to contact him. Police Press Officer G. Michael Reid was among the first people at the scene.
G. Michael Reid
“Sometime around midday, the police received a call that the store had not been open all day, from one of the relatives. And we responded, came to the place. The police had to enter by force after not receiving any response from inside. Upon entering they found the proprietor inside the building.”
With his pockets turned inside out, his feet and hands tied, and cloth stuffed in his mouth, Vernon was found at the bottom of the stairs leading to the upper flat where he resided alone. Police suspect that Vernon was the victim of a robbery turned murder. Reid says preliminary information indicates that the elderly man was last seen alive on Tuesday evening.
G. Michael Reid
“We know he closed the store yesterday evening and did not open it this morning, so one would have to believe that it is sometime overnight that this occurred.”
Patrick Jones
“Apart from the police entering by force, are there any other indications that the building was forcibly entered?”
G. Michael Reid
“So far we’ve seen no sign.
While police forensic expert Dr. Mario Estradabran prepared to examine the body at the crime scene, Vernon’s daughter, Emelda, who was prevented from entering the establishment, says the family is stunned by the vicious attack.
Emelda Vernon, Daughter
“I just wish that they would have left some trace that they could find whosoever do this, because that really cold, really cold. My pa dah wah long-time businessman, he noh bother, he noh interfere with nobody or thing like that, so I just…motive, I don’t know.”
Vernon says anyone who may have information that would lead to the capture of her father’s killer or killers needs to come forward and talk with the police. In the meantime, the family prepares to lay the businessman, former boxer, and boxing coach to rest.
Emelda Vernon
“How they would feel if something like this happen to somebody for them. If they have a heart, which in I don’t think they have a heart anyway, because my father eighty-four. He is strong; he doesn’t look like somebody eighty-four, but he do his honest living. He doesn’t beg anybody for anything he does his honest living, so why do him something like that.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
Vernon has resided and done business at the location on Central American Boulevard for over forty years. Funeral arrangements for Eustace Vernon are pending the arrival of his children from abroad.
