Mother of slain girl wants harassment to end
The murder of twelve year old Janessa Jones continues to haunt the Ladyville community. The school girl left home after school to run an errand and from all accounts she never made it to the intended destination in the City. Her mother and stepfather have come under close scrutiny and today Arlene Bainton told News’s Five Marion Ali that she wants the harassment to cease.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Today marks one week since the body of twelve year-old Janessa Jones was discovered in mangroves where the Haulover Creek meets the Caribbean Sea. Due to the state of decomposition, the young girl was buried that same day following a post mortem which certified that she suffered three fractures to the skull and that she died from drowning. But while police have not made any strides towards solving the mystery murder, the girl’s mother, Arlene Bainton, claims that the investigation is not only targeting her and her boyfriend, Ornel Caliz, but it is bordering on harassment and false accusations.
Arlene Bainton, Mother of Janessa Jones
“Dehn already picked us up the Thursday and after that dehn let us out the Thursday evening, then we gone dah di memorial Friday and Saturday evening the Ladyville Police seh that dehn want see we dah di station. Dehn ker we – when we reach dah di station dehn seh we detain and we gone down dah Belize City and we lock down. Dehnker we up dah the office gone see the big man and then after that dehn seh like how we noh want talk or something like that dehn lock we down til we could talk.”
Marion Ali
“Talk bout what? They feel what?”
Arlene Bainton
“They feel that I kill my daughter or something like that.”
Marion Ali
“Have they told you this?”
Arlene Bainton
Arlene Bainton
“Yeah. Dehnseh that I kill my daughter and bash ah eena ih head and dash ah weh. I noh kill my daughter and I noh see no possible reason why I woulda do something like that cause I noh see weh she cud do to me fi mek I want do something like that, and I love my daughter. That was my friend. Everything I give to her, everything. This dah pressure caz no time fi mourning Ms Marion, no time. Every time dah lone harassment. Me and my family can’t get together yet fi grieve.”
While Bainton wants her time to grieve, she says she also wants police to arrest the killer, and that person is neither her nor her boyfriend. Edward Carter, Janessa’s cousin, says he was at her house in Ladyville the evening when she left and that both Bainton and Caliz remained there.
Edward Carter, Cousin of Murdered Girl
Edward Carter
“Miss Bainton, she was in kitchen kneading some dough, flour to make tortilla for the kids. I was in the living watching TV. She told her mom ‘Ah gone. I’ll see you when I get back.’”
Marion Ali
“And her stepfather was here as well?”
Edward Carter
“Yes, he was here. He was talking to a neighbor next door and then he came up the same time she was walking out.”
And he remained here for the entire night and then maybe about seven the young man and one of Miss Bainton’s child went out there to see if she had made it back off the bus.
Arlene Bainton
“People accuse me that I did something like that and I know in my heart and God knows, cause God is my witness, that I didn’t do such.”
Marion Ali
“Do you feel as if though you put her in any kind of danger? You said you sent her out on a mission or an errand that evening. Now looking back at it.”
Arlene Bainton
“I did send her out but not with the intention that, you know, something would happen to her. I sent her out with the intention that she will come back cause she always go and do errands for me and always come back.”
But that evening Janessa did not come back. She walked from her house to the bus stop around the corner that Monday evening and there are no accounts that she ever got on the bus. A check with the person in Belize City to whom Janessa was sent on the errand has also told Bainton that the girl never arrived. Bainton said someone told her that they spotted the child at the bus stop sometime around six that same evening.
Today we went to Janessa’s house and her bedroom resembled a memorial. The uniform she took off and washed that evening before she left was spread across her bed. 
On a small shelf above her bed her mother keeps a lit candle, a crucifix, an open bible, a rosary, awards that she had recently won, a glass of water, and petals from freshly picked flowers. It is comfort, her mother says, to the girl’s three brothers.
Arlene Bainton
“All ah dehn cry cause whenever you see them in the village it is always three of them together, the two little small boy and she.”
It is a tragic end to the life of, by all accounts, a very promising schoolgirl – a brutal end that leaves her mother looking for answers.
Arlene Bainton
“I really woulda want know who did that to my child and what’s the reason? Why? Why?”
Marion Ali for News Five.
We contacted the Police Press Officer, Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood to ask about the mother’s claim of harassment. He declined an interview on the matter and said that if the family has a complaint, that should be made to the Police Internal Affairs Unit. Yearwood also said that police have not been able to break the case.
WE HAD ENOUGH! WE DEMAND CHANGE! BELIZEANS UNITE OR PERISH!
It’s a tragedy for the little girl to have been murdered. Whoever did it, I hope the police can investigate fairly and effectively, and DPP can do a winning job. Then hang the killer. Whoever can murder a child is a danger to every child, and doesn’t deserve to go on living.
And OJ is hoping to find his wife’s killer in jail. Stop whining, if the Police had done nothing you would still be complaining. Your man was hanging out next door playing with the neighbor & your cousin was in the house watching you make tortillas & between all 3 adults & a possible neighbor, together you couldn’t muster up enough sense to know that sending this child into the jungle with the predators was a bad idea. Grown, hairy tone men sat on their selfish @$$%$ & not offer to either run your errand or escort this child. Why should anyone believe them?
If the little girl left at 4:30-5, where did she go before she was supposedly seen at the bus stop around 6PM.
Who actually washed her uniform? Did she only have one & did they wash it every day. If she only wore it that Monday…….I have even more questions.
A mother brutally killing her child in Belize is more of a random act, if any at all. Belizean mothers are more likely to sexually exploit their daughters, or cause physical and emotional abuse to their children by disciplinary action, such as whippings, and name callings, etc. This brutal act committed against this girl was done by a man; men are more likely to commit this type of killings on women or children. (See history)
It seem like the girl never made it to the bus stop, and if she never made it to the bus stop then she was killed at home, or between her home and the bus stop by someone she knew.
While Edward Carter the cousin was busy suffering brain cell loss by watching B.E.T it was not possibly for him to know the wear about of the mother, the step-father, or the neighbor.
Question is: where was he?
Harrasment wtf? If i were this mother id be more than happy to go speak to police wah dozen times if i have too if it will help find who killed my daughter cause maybe i remember something odd that day like seeing a specific car etc. plus id know that they actually working on the case instead of wondering if they even doing anything. It’s a pitty that she goes on tv and isnt crying begging people to find her daughters murderer. The more and more i hear this woman the more i believe she is hiding something and them dry crys aint fooling anyone.
And what was the errand?
All three of you look like crack head……………..From the mother having four kids and can’t take care of them. You belong to jail and with no kids not after what you have done. Even if you never kill your daughter you did from the begining you send out this little girl to do errand for you. Why do you have man for pretty looks grow up fool. If I was the law would have torcher you to nothing until you admit you kill your baby girl.
All this seems suspicious. I believe the police are trying to find answers and the closest ones to finding it are with the parents, the way I see it. The mother claims the girl went into a tantrum. I know sometimes children can make u lose your cool. Many times frustration is taken out of children and in a moment of vexation one can do something that they may later regret. I hope this was not the case here. Have the other kids been questioned? or are they afraid of the stepfather? Something here doesn’t seem right. Whomever did it can lie to the police but there’s a God above who sees everything and woe to he/she who would do such a monstrous thing and think they can get away with it!! MOTHER, i hope u are being truthful! and pray that the killer rots in HELLLL!
What was the “MISSION” or the “ERRAND” Geez! its the obvious questions! These ppl re hiding something and I say that without and shadow of doubt!
This is a CHILD we are talking about! Her death SHOULD NOT go down as another statistic!!!
I feel the stepfather should be the one to give account about this for some men when they get enough of a girl child that is not theirs thats when they have the mind of a killer, an i feel the police should try an take both in an do a thing like CSI when they seperate you an say that the other say this an that well Belize Police always say that they are highly train but lets see you all at work with this case for when some stepfather can’t use them or they have use them an feel threaten thats their fair behavoiur about getting rid of the evidence so high officials do you know that half the time kids are being hurt by close relative or friends or people that they are close to an that is a fact so please i am begging you all don’t take your eyes off the stepfather, ok an i hope this will make a closure to some women that put man before their kids which is wrong,
They got rid of the evidence when they buried the body without a proper autopsy. where were Sanchez and Estradabran trained to deal only with fresh dead!!! if this is not addressed we will be in this situation over and over this year.. GET REAL forensic examiners to gather evidence for your cases since eyewitnesses will not come forward in this climate of never ending violence..
STOP BEING TRUSTING WIT UR DAUGHTERS…check the stepfather he right from south and has a long police record….this mother need lashing have someone half she age around she baby….someone know weh happen to this lee gyal and u bet the cook dah someone close to her…..lock them yes..she di complain and her daughter lock up inna a box with the same clothes she had last time she c ah….no shame!!!!!!!!!!!
What Belizean women have had a history of doing is covering for worthless men & too many of our men have neither conscience or respect for age, women or anything else. How many women have beaten their daughters for “lying” on their stepfather because instead of seeing the man as a pervert & predator, it was easier to keep him & ostracize her child. We have had men in Belize who have impregnated their own children & step children & the mothers stayed. Years ago a grown man screwed his wife’s 2 year old child by “accident” & we let that animal back out on the streets, there is another worthless rat from the same area who did it to his step child & years later did the same to her 7 year old & this ugly toad never spent a day in jail, rather than leave & turn him in the first time, the mother married him.
I have seen too many Belizean women go on the offensive & curse at neighbors, family & everyone else who tried to talk sense into them, then begin their own campaign of misinformation to cover their men’s backsides.
We are hard on you Arlene, because we think you are lying & your child is DEAD, no other reason & the police are simply doing their job.
Do you remember giving birth? Do you remember breast feeding your child & laying with her on your stomach until she fell asleep, holding her hand & having to slow down to accommodate her little legs because she insisted on walking? That same baby grew into the child that mouthed off but they get beyond that WHEN ALLOWED TO LIVE. I hope you didn’t kill this child & I hope the Police had enough sense to separate you, your man & your cousin, just remember there is no piece or relationship worth your child’s life, tell the police what you know & you will given space to grieve, even if that space is a jail cell.
Why is she complaining about the police harrassing her. If that was my child I would give the police every permission to search and ask me questions and since she have nothing to hide why is she complaining the police is only doing their job to find her daughter killer or killers. As we all know, the first person the police rule a suspect with any child dissapearance is the parents you cannot rule them out. After the parents story check out they will work their way onto the other relatives and friends. Statistic has shown that when a child is murder or molested it is always a close relatives or friend of the family. Stop winning and come clean. What was the errand? crack because the both of them look like tweeker, just saying. Not complying with the authority makes you look guilty.
When this story first broke my gut feeling was that the parent was involved. Fear made them try to dispose of the body. Calculated lies took over as it always do it these situations. I know that they are involve and the Police have all rights to put pressure on them. I personally have no sympathy on them. As for the cousin with his American accent, bet he is a deportee.
My thought is – can a lye detector test be given to all three. If the Police Force does not have the machine or capability to do so, they should pay to have an expert come to Belize to conduct it even if it demand raising the funds to do so. It is an innocent child’s life that was cut short, a child who did not deserve the cruelty meted out on her. It is time that those of us who know better fight for the cause of protecting children. To the many fathers who are separated from their children, I beg of you to find them, form a relationship with them and a close one, allow your child/ren to be open with you, listen to them and take them seriously, act upon what they tell you. Children who have a good solid relationship with their fathers tend to be less abuse because the mothers and stepfathers know that the child/ren has a protector to reach out to. As parents whether we remain together or not is not our children fault.On a more serious note God give us children to care, love , protect, nurture and to bring up spiritually sound for his purpose on this earth. I say may the wrath of God be upon the head/s of who ever is responsible for this devilish act.
I Am Really So Sad For This Child.
If Janessa was attacked at home then there would be blood splatter at her home as she had 3 fractures to the skull. even if they clean it up you always miss something. I doubt the police have luminol though to check the house for evidence. Since she died from drowning though I think she was killed along the waters edge because with 3 fractures I don’t think that gives you much time before you die, but then again that depends on how much damage is done by the blows and what weapon was used. Whatever the case she had to be transported by vehicle to the disposal site. So I’m guessing that somewhere out there is Janessa blood on some rocks along the rivers edge.
Maybe she got picked up by someone with a white pickup truck. Murder victim #5 and #6 both have a white pickup truck in common. someoone may have offered her a ride to the city.
From the first time I heard this story, I could not come to terms with a mother sending her 12 year old daughter to the city alone, :KNOWING HOW TIME IS TODAY IN BELIZE CITY. SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT WITH THEIR STORY.
Although this is an old article I found it interesting to read all the opinionated butt holes who felt the need to comment on the tragedy that a family faced! I personally am appalled of the ignorance of people and the lack of support for a grieving parent! Get a life people! Even the worst of the legal systems states innocent until proven guilty and all of you should apologize because the murderer was found and no it was not anyone in the home! Without knowing the facts or even the people you have spoken so harshly of you all should have kept your opinions to yourselves!!!!!! Apologize to this poor family for their loss! Geez people are so ignorant!
Even though many of you guys read this article and assumed that this was a selfish act upon the adults your not taking in consideration that their maybe be many families in belize who send their child to go get grocery’s. first of all before judge and assume look at in their point of view. this mother, step-father, and cousin a grieving and they need and what the support of people to help them through this traumatic and hard time. Their was a time when people did send their kids out to run errands for them. process your very mean and cruel opinions before you right them. Remember god doesn’t like ugly. you never know if this was just a daily chore for this little girl to do for her family. just because some of you guy’s shelter your kids from the world doesn’t mean any other parent does. if this was one of your kids you would think you would be more caring instead of you being more evil and nasty about the whole situation. YOU WOULD THINK HUMANITY WOULD BE MORE KIND INSTEAD OF BEING MORE FIXATED UPON YOUR OWN OPINIONS INSTEAD OF YOUR LEARNING THE FACTS ABOUT THE WHOLE SITUATION.