Latest City Murder Has Investigators Baffled

Jose David Funes

A man was shot and killed in Belize City on Thursday night, but no one knew it had happened until the body was found on a London bridge. This afternoon, a family made the identification of Jose David Funes. News Five’s Marion Ali has been on the story since this morning before anyone knew who he was.

Marion Ali, Reporting

Belize City police are trying to establish the motive of Belize City’s latest murder. The victim, clad in only a pair of beige shorts, was found lying on this pallet, in the Holy Emmanuel Street Extension area in Lake Independence. This afternoon, police were able to identify the victim as thirty-nine year-old Jose David Funes, a man who has been in the news before. What investigators do not yet know is what led Funes to the area between ten and eleven o’clock on Thursday night when residents heard the shots that killed him. Those residents discovered the gravity of those bullets early this morning.

Paul Santiago

Voice of: Paul Santiago, Area Resident

“Ah mi di sleep. Da one bang I hear, BLUP! Nothing else. I tro down back and I gone. When my daughter get up this morning, gwein ker ih partner to work, she run back, “Grampa, grampa! Ih seh somebody get shot out ya. I seh “shot? Well that da from last night.” We nuh know da who. We nuh know him at all.”

Funes was in the news in March of 2017, when he gave an interview following the murder of his common law wife. In 2013, he was remanded on a charge of unlawful carnal knowledge of a minor.

While Funes’ murder leaves police looking for answers, Santiago’s concern is that the scarcity of streets lights and the overgrown hedges in the undeveloped community could lead to a repeat of what they woke up to this morning.

Voice of: Paul Santiago

“Ih scares the neighbourhood cause ih could happen again cause watch the place how it looks – bushy.”

Marion Ali

“And you need more lights?”

Voice of: Paul Santiago

“We need a little more light.”

Marion Ali, reporting for News Five.