Prime suspect in Cayo murder fled across border

Police have not made any arrests in last week’s brutal murder at the Cahal Pech Maya site, but at least they have a motive and a prime suspect. Sources in the police department indicate that the killing of twenty-year old caretaker Geoffrey Mas was not a robbery gone bad, but was in fact an execution. Mas had been at the site on May third and had apparently aided police in identifying the four men, who that night had broken into the small museum and stolen several hundred thousand dollars in Maya artifacts. Three of those men were arrested for the robbery: Linsbert Bahadur, Dennis Castillo and Shane Espat, and all were eventually released on bail. The fourth, believed to be the mastermind behind the heist, was Jordy Espat. It is Espat who has become the prime suspect in the murder of Mas. Reports from Cayo indicate that the fugitive was seen in the area on the day of the killing, but is believed to have crossed the border into Guatemala where he is said to maintain a residence. Mas was killed on July twenty-fourth when two men with their faces painted black entered the Cahal Pech Visitors Centre and shot him in the back of the head with a sawed off shotgun. Police have sought the assistance of law enforcement authorities in Guatemala in an effort to apprehend Espat.