Vigil held for safe return of missing Rash siblings

It has been a turbulent week for the San Marcos community in southern Belize. Hopes are dimming in the search for a young brother and sister who mysteriously disappeared more than a week now.  Desperate villagers, who were led to believe that the siblings had been abducted, set a crocodile sanctuary on fire last Sunday. A fortune teller has been charged for misleading the Maya Community. Earlier today, a moving vigil was held for the safe return of the two missing children. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports from Punta Gorda.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

They prayed, some wept while others were simply there to lend moral support but with each passing day the hope of reuniting the missing children with their family seems to be slipping away.  It has been a little over a week since nine year old Oneila and her brother Benjamin Rash set out to sell fruits in Hopeville, a small, mixed community on the outskirts of Punta Gorda Town.  The pair had traveled twelve miles from their home in San Marcos Village that morning to vend lime and craboo and never returned.

Sr. Supt. Robert Mariano, O.C. Toledo Police Formation

“The police continue to record statements from persons who have sighted these children on the day they disappeared.  The police continue to go around. We have recorded or visited houses from Cattle Landing all the way to San Antonio.  We have stopped at every house and asked questions from family members or people who live on the road if they have seen these children.”

Sadly, no one has offered information that would lead to their discovery and Punta Gorda police, despite recording witness statements, are still looking for a needle in a haystack.  A lot has transpired within the community since their disappearance including the arson of a property belonging to an American couple.  Regardless of that incident Cristina Coc of the Maya Leaders Alliance maintains that the focus should be on finding the missing children.

cristina coc

Cristina Coc, Spokesperson, Mayan Leaders Alliance

“The issue is two missing children, Oneila and Benjamin.  The issue is that members of our community have suffered a great loss.  We don’t know the whereabouts of these children.  We don’t wanna forget that this is the point, to seek support to find these children.  Whether we find them alive or whether they’ve suffered a tragic fate we need some closure.  We need to know what happened to our children.”

Amidst that investigation is an accusation that has shattered the lives of Vincent and Cherie Rose, owners of what was once a refuge for captive crocodiles.  Vincent is falsely accused of abducting the children and using them to feed the animals.  Their safe haven, known as the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary, has since been incinerated in what is believed to be an act of arson.  While police remain tightlipped on the matter Coc says that the angry villagers were not responsible for burning down the property on Sunday.

Cristina Coc

“We have been told very clearly that there is no evidence, no factual evidence at all to link the Maya community of San Marcos to this arson case.”

Until that case can also be cracked local law enforcement are left to unravel another whodunit mystery.  Meanwhile the Rash family took the stage at Central Park where they made an impassioned plea for the location of their loved ones.  Senior Superintendent Robert Mariano says they have been receiving assistance from the Belize Defense Force.

Sr. Supt. Robert Mariano

sr. supt. robert mariano

“The B.D.F. air wing had fly over the entire district looking around to see if they have seen any strange objects especially the bucket that these children had and not even the bucket have been sighted.”

Both investigations are ongoing and the department is leaving no stones unturned.  The arson on Sunday, however, has dealt a black eye to the Mayan community which has for years shared a cozy relationship with foreigners.

Christina Coc

“We continue to live as a peaceful people.  In regards to our relationship with the Rose family we feel, again I express my sympathy for their loss but I also understand that Mr. Rose made some really nasty comments about Mayan communities.  I forgive him because its emotions speaking.  We take no offence to that.  We know that we are not savages.  We know that we are responsible Belizeans. We know that we have lived and abided by the laws of Belize since the time that we have lived here.”

Up until news time today no one has been arrested and charged for the arson neither has anyone been arrested for the abduction of the Rash siblings. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

Police say that the search for the children will be sustained.