Charred Remains in Lemonal are that of Owen Tucker Senior
As we reported on Monday, police discovered a body in the Lemonal Village; believed to be that of Owen Tucker Senior. The charred human remains were retrieved and transported to the forensic lab where a post-mortem will be conducted. Today, News Five revisits the case of the missing man turned murder. Reporter Duane Moody files this report.
Owen Tucker Sr.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Police on Monday discovered the decomposing body of a man believed to be that of Owen Tucker Senior. The discovery was made just after two o’clock, while officers were out in the vicinity of Lemonal Village, in Belize Rural Valley. The charred remains were in a face down position, about a quarter of a mile in a feeder road of the Lemonal Road. Tucker Senior was reported missing, exactly one week ago when he was last seen leaving the Crocland property he owned. The breakthrough of the case began over the weekend.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police [File: November 28th, 2022]
“Over the weekend we had a breakthrough, where we had interviewed certain persons and certain information was obtained. That information that was obtained led to the searching of the home of one Mister Crawford, who resides in Belize City. At the home we found one twelve gauge shotgun, which we believe is the weapon of choice used to murder Mister Tucker. We have also located and impounded the vehicle that was used to move the body from where it was he was shot to another location. We did process that vehicle. We used the Luminol test and that revealed blood in the trunk of that vehicle. We have obtained those samples and it will be sent for D.N.A., so if the D.N.A. comes back and proves that Mister Tucker’s body was in that vehicle, then that will make the case even stronger.”
A missing person’s report was made last Wednesday and investigators along with family members and friends, including the accused, carried out searches in Biscayne – the area where he was last seen alive.
Marina Tucker
Marina Tucker, Sister-in-law of Missing Man [File: November 25th, 2022]
“We are hoping for the best at this moment, especially for his elderly mom’s sake. He is the last surviving child out of four. She has lost three of her children within an eleven-month span and this is her last surviving child. We are hoping that we will find him that he is somewhere that he will contact us. He is not a person that leaves without communicating with a family member – his son, his nieces in the U.S. This is my first time back here, and I do notice there are residents in the area. It is about a mile, a mile and half in, I don’t see how he would disappear from there to the entrance here. So something have to happen between leaving and being out here.”
Jerome Crawford
Forty-year-old Jerome Crawford has since been charged for Tucker’s murder. Police believe it was over money.
Chester Williams [File: November 28th, 2022]
“Mister Crawford was taken into custody and was interviewed by the police. He did not cooperate with the investigation, but what our investigation is showing so far is that Mister Crawford had an issue with Mister Tucker over money. Mister Crawford is a former employee of Mister Tucker and they had an issue over money. Mister Crawford went to the farm where Mister Tucker was and he shot Mister Tucker with the shotgun and wrapped his body in a rug and took it to dispose of it.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
