2 let go, 4 more questioned in deaths at sea
Police suddenly broke their silence this week surrounding the investigation of the Garbutt family’s disappearance and the execution-style murders of Emil Franklin and his crew. They revealed they had two suspects in custody and had confiscated a boat belonging to one of the men. Today at a press conference held at C.I.B. Headquarters on Queen Street it was announced that four more men have been detained. Police claim they are now on the brink of cracking the case.
According to the Head of the Criminal Investigations Branch Simeon Alvarez police strongly suspect that the disappearance of the Garbutts in December and the subsequent triple homicide almost one month later of Emil Franklin, Geoffrey Zuniga and Lindon “Bubbles” Raymond are connected. They believe that both events are drug related.
A.I.P. Simeon Alvarez, Head of C.I.B.
“We are not treating the incidents separate; we are looking at both the missing harbor and the death of the three guys in the same, because it could either be there is a link with the missing Garbutt family and the three: Franklin and his crew. So we are treating it as one.
I think we are at the tip of it, we are almost to the tip, about to crack open the case. We are close to it; very, very close.”
Although they would not reveal certain aspects of the investigations, terming these as “very sensitive” police have rounded up a number of well known Belize City residents for questioning. On Wednesday, the police entered the residence of James “Raindrops” Swan and seized his 26 foot blue vessel named “JAKREIJA”. Swan and Charles Leslie were taken into custody. According to Alvarez, they have received reports that the boat was in the area on the day the bodies of Franklin and his crew were found.
A.I.P. Simeon Alvarez
“What happened is that the boat was seen in the area where those bodies were found. The description, the name of the boat and all that, the police got that through information and that is the reason how we came across that boat.”
But after holding the men for three days, C.I.B. says they do not have sufficient evidence to charge them and have not found anything on the boat to link it to the triple murder. Both men were scheduled to be released this evening. However, Alvarez says Swan and Leslie will continue to be considered possible suspects. Currently in custody are Winston James, Lionel Kelly, James Hyde and Francis Dawson.
Alvarez says while no charges have been levied against the men, they will be detained pending the outcome of their investigation.
