In Orange Walk, Who Wanted Alexi Palma Dead?

Elmer Alexi Palma

A Honduran national was killed in the north and his relatives say they have no idea why. Elmer Alexi Palma, better known as Alexi, was found shot to death on the back seat of his taxi on Sunday night in Orange Walk. His relatives and friends say that he was friendly and outgoing and didn’t have any bad blood with anyone. A female passenger alleges that Palma was alive up until seven-thirty that night because she took his taxi twice. But someone wanted Palma dead – he was shot to the head along the Chan Pine Ridge Road in Orange Walk. Police say they have not been able to determine a motive, and like the family, they don’t believe robbery was behind this homicide. Police say they are looking for one person. News Five’s Andrea Polanco went to Orange Walk today to find out more about this homicide.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Twenty-seven-year-old Alexi Palma was discovered with a gunshot wound to head in the backseat of his taxi. Palma’s uncle, Abel Francisco Murillo, received a call around after eight on Sunday night that a white car he once owned was seen parked along the Chan Pine Ridge Road in Orange Walk. Murillo tried calling his nephew repeatedly and when he got no response, he drove out to an area just before the airstrip to find the car. When he looked inside he saw nephew bleeding and apparently dead. The police were called out to the scene.

Abel Francisco Murillo

Abel Francisco Murillo, Uncle of Deceased

“When I reached there, I just parked beside the vehicle and I blow it and I didn’t see anybody in the vehicle. So, I put on my phone light. I try to shine it inside and I nuh see anybody. But then when I shine it on the back seat, I saw my nephew was bleeding. He was bleeding. So, I called him, ‘Sarco! Sarco!’ Because I call him by that nickname and he neva ansa me. So, I said, well I think he dead.   When I see the injury was when the police took him out from the vehicle. He had like a bullet wound to the forehead.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, one shot he received?”

Abel Francisco Murillo

“Yes, one shot, yes.”

Murillo said that he spoke with his nephew around ten on Sunday morning. He was his usual self – very happy. Since living in Orange Walk – he has never been known to be involved in criminal activities or feuds. While Palma’s relatives don’t know what he was doing on the Chan Pine Ridge Road that night, his friends, who are also taxi operators, say that he was on business with a passenger.

Esbin Veron

Esbin Veron, Taxi Operator/ Friend of Deceased [Translated]

“He went to drop off a girl to Chan Pine Ridge around 7:30. The girl said that afterwards he brought her back here to Trial Farm. And after that, they say he went on another call. I don’t know.”

But by eight or so, the car was seen abandoned along the road that was when Murillo was called. So, what happened on the Chan Pine Ridge Road that night?  Did he pick up a passenger who killed him? And if so, why? Palma’s relatives are clueless. His uncle says he doesn’t believe the motive was robbery because Palma’s wallet wasn’t stolen. But his cell-phone is missing.

Abel Francisco Murillo

“Everything was with him. Police checked him and he had the wallet with everything. He have ninety-seven dollars and he had all his identification cards. He had everything on him. He neva lose nothing, nothing.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, it wouldn’t appear to be a case of robbery?”

Abel Francisco Murillo

“I don’t think it was a robbery or something like that. I think something else happened. Also, somebody can confuse him with somebody else. That is just what I think because really I don’t know. I don’t know. So, I am not sure what happened.”

Andrea Polanco

“He has only been in Orange Walk for about three months – you don’t know if he had any enemies or any problems? Did he share anything of that nature with you?”

Abel Francisco Murillo

“No. No. He neva share with me with me that he had any lee problems or so. He was always very friendly.”

Palma, a Honduran national, had been living in Belize for about ten months. The first six months he spent in San Pedro working in construction. And then about three months ago, he relocated to Trial Farm in Orange Walk to be closer to his uncle. Shortly after, Palma rented the car to start his taxi business. Murillo says that his nephew left Honduras to seek a better life in Belize – but they never imagined he would meet such a tragic end.

Abel Francisco Murillo

“He left Honduras because he knows in Belize he could be doing better. When he came here the first time he gone dah San Pedro and then he left San Pedro to come to Orange Walk to look for me, to find me. I ask him what he wah do and said, ‘Uncle, I want to be a taxi driver like you.’ I ask him if he is sure and he said. He is really sure. So, he come in with everything. I was proud of him because he said he wanted to buy a piece of land and he told me that he had a girlfriend. He said Belize is a beautiful country. I like Belize. I enjoy Belize. That’s what he told me.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.