Woodrow West Cleared in Imari Galvez Murder Investigation
Imari Galvez
Back in May, nineteen-year-old Imari Galvez was choked to death and her lifeless body was dumped off the Hummingbird Highway. The news of her murder rattled the Belmopan community. As we reported, two individuals were detained in connection with her murder, including her ex-boyfriend Woodrow West. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams has since revealed that their investigation is no longer pointing to West as a suspect in the murder. There were hopes that Galvez’s iPhone would be able to provide investigators with some answers. Those hopes have been dashed. After the Belize Police Department reached out to the U.S Embassy for assistance in unlocking the phone, the embassy responded saying “there is no forensic tool advanced enough to unlock an iPhone 13”. Furthermore, the U.S Embassy informed the police that IT and F.B.I. personnel must wait at least two years for the forensic equipment to be updated. Here is what Compol Williams had to say on the matter this morning.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Yes, we had also done that in respect to that investigation, going through the pro9cess and getting the phone records from BTL, but you would know that in today’s day and age many young people don’t communicate using straight text or straight calls. They would normally use these different apps and BTL do not store information for these different apps.”
Reporter
“What do you say to the family though who now really feel hopeless? They feel like other things could have been done by way of investigation.”
Chester Williams
“I would just like the family to understand that the investigation is not an easy one. I am sure they are that it is difficult, because the circumstances under which she went from home is not one where there were witnesses around who could have said who she went with. Again getting witnesses to be able to come forward who would have seen her with the person we believe is the suspect is not forthcoming. So again we would like to appeal to the family, if they know anything that they believe would be able to help us come closer to the person of interest then we would appreciate that assistance from them.”
Reporter
“You still insist on that. You feel that the family may have more information that they could share to help in the investigation?”
Chester Williams
“Yes, we still believe that they do. I don’t want to get into too many details but from what we are getting they might be able to assist the police more than they have. We did check two vehicles belonging to two suspects and the main suspect we are focusing on what appeared to be blood stains was found inside his vehicle. Samples were taken and that will be sent to the DNA lab for testing. Certainly Woodrow West and the young lady had a rocky relationship and that drew some attention when she passed away but from our investigation it does not seem he is the person that commit the crime.”
