Woman in hotel died of illness

The mystery over the discovery of a woman’s body in a Belize City hotel room is much closer to being solved tonight. Jacqueline Woods has more.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

Forty-seven year old Joanna Josephine Arana may have died under suspicious circumstances, but her friends strongly suspect that is was a series of medical conditions that killed her. Leticia Arzu says around 6:00 on Monday evening, she met with Arana who told her that she had just come back from the La Loma Luz hospital.

Leticia Arzu, Friend

“When I come from school, I meet her by the lane and she hail me. She seh (said), Leticia I mi deh by your house di wait fi you. So I tell ah, I gone dah school, I di go dah school. I ask she, what you di do yah (here)? She tell me, I come from Loma Luz. I ask ah, weh you gone do dah Loma Luz? She said, I noh feel good and I the wait for a taxi fi go dah my hotel, fi go dah my room. That dah what she told me.”

Jacqueline Woods

“What you think may have happened to your friend?”

Leticia Arzu

“I think that dah sick she sick man, cause she got pressure and sugar and heart attack. So I can’t seh that nobody do anything to her.”

It’s not certain what time Arana checked in at the hotel, but around 9:00 on Tuesday morning, her nude body was found on a bed inside room nine at the Golden Star Guesthouse on New Road. At the scene, police recovered Arana’s bag and medication. Today, police say they are no longer treating the case as a homicide. A post-mortem examination reveals that she died from septic shock due to diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Reporting for News 5, Jacqueline Woods.