2 from Teakettle Charged in Keonia Ara Murder

Shaylon Santos

Two young men from the village of Teakettle are facing charges of murder in connection with the brutal slaying of eighteen-year-old Keonia Ara over the weekend.  As we’ve reported, the charred remains of the teenager were discovered on Saturday afternoon by a watchman at a dumpsite approximately four miles outside of Belmopan.  The body remained unidentified for several days until Sherlene Mai, a resident of Blackman Eddy, Cayo District, visited the Roaring Creek Police Station on Monday.  The family’s worst fears were confirmed when the mother positively identified the tattoos on her daughter’s badly burnt body. 

Jaime Patnett

In the wake of the gruesome discovery, twenty-year-old Shaylon Santos and twenty-two-year-old Jaime Patnett were both detained by police pending questioning.  Late this evening, Senior Superintendent Howell Gillett confirmed to News Five that Santos and Patnett were to be charged for the crime of murder.  On Wednesday, we spoke with Sherlene Mai in Blackman Eddy.  She shared with us a possible motive for the murder of her daughter.

Isani Cayetano

“There are a lot of speculations surrounding the death of your daughter.  What have you been hearing so far?”

Keonia Ara

Sherlene Mai, Mother of Deceased

“I think ih connected with di one two weeks [ago] weh happen.  Dat da weh I assume.  Probably I di jump di gun, I noh know but that da weh I think because Keonia mih di out di relationship with Shaylon and Shaylon seh ih noh di stand fi dat, ih wah off ahn.  So da that’s why I di seh ih had to be he.  If I di judge ahn well then ah wrong, but then that da weh I come up with.  Ih had to be Shaylon.  And if da noh Shaylon, Shaylon know who do it because ih send wah threat to my lee gial already and I tell ahn Keonia, she come to me and she tell me and I tell ahn Keonia, alright yoh done know what da di motive, yoh done know weh di go aan.  Kip weh from da lee bwai.  So ih had to be wahn female to weh call my daughter pan da bus towards San Ignacio.  She board off di bus and she board pan wah notha bus and she went to Belmopan because di girlfriend mussi tell ahn, “meet mi yah” and da lure dehn lure my daughter to ih death.”

Sherlene Mai

Isani Cayetano

“This individual that you are essentially accusing of having committed this crime, where is he from?”

Sherlene Mai

“Teakettle, and my friends tell me Keonia post something pan Facebook with di lee bwai weh pass.  And she and di lee bwai, I think, mi deh eena wahn relationship too and dat da mussi weh mi trigger off Shaylon.  Dat da weh I di try think and dat da weh I di…  As weh ah seh, maybe weh I di seh ih wrong, maybe ah di jump di gun or maybe… But dat da weh I di gather and my gut di tell me dat dah weh gaan on.”

Police are yet to disclose a motive for the murder of Keonia Ara.