Corpse of missing Stann Ck. Woman found; four charged
The second murder is the tragic culmination of news coverage that began last Thursday with the discovery of an unidentified child and continued Friday with a report that while the mystery of the boy’s identity had been solved, his mother was missing. Tonight, we have the sad duty to reveal that the woman in question, nineteen year old Myrna Figueroa, has been found … more specifically, her body.
Bart Jones, Assistant Superintendent of Police
“Sometime Wednesday morning a motorist on the Southern Highway took a young child to the Independence Police Station saying that he had found the child in South Stann Creek wondering on the highway.”
Marion Ali
“This is the 3 year-old boy?”
Bart Jones
“The 3 year-old boy. And from then the police investigation had started and we published the picture of the child and as a result we then got information that then child and his mother, who was from Silk Grass Village, checks were made there which showed that both the child and the mother was missing. From there police continued to work on it. They had four persons detained which resulted in yesterday’s discovery of the body of the mother which was nude and showed signs of sexual molestation.”
Marion Ali
“This body was found where?”
Bart Jones
“About two miles into the Hopkins Road off on a dirt road and then in the bushes from there.”
Marion Ali
“Was it buried or just thrown there?”
Bart Jones
“Just thrown on the ground under the canopy of the bushes covered by the canopy of the trees in a deserted area.”
“So far the investigation is showing that the child and mother were abducted on Tuesday night from Silk Grass Village and she was taken to the located where her body was found. Investigation is showing that she was probably killed there and then the child was left in one of the bus stops off the Southern Highway.”
Marion Ali
“What is the relation between the four suspects in custody and the victim?”
Bart Jones
“So far the investigation is showing that at least one of the persons may have in the past have some relationship with the female, one of the persons that are detained.”
Police this evening charged forty-five year old businessman, Miguel Herrera Sr., twenty year old labourer Miguel Herrera Jr., twenty-nine year old truck driver Norris Kelly, all of Silk Grass Village and eighteen year old labourer Lucio Herrera of Kendall Village. All have been charged with Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Murder. Reports are that Herrera Jr. is the ex-boyfriend of Myrna Figueroa, and Herrera Sr. is said to have had an intimate relationship with Figueroa’s sister. Meanwhile, Ernesto Andrews, Myrna Figueroa’s live-in boyfriend of the last two years, says he was at his worksite in Sittee River Village when the abduction allegedly occurred. He said when he got home Tuesday night he found the house door open and the place ransacked. But Andrews was still not convinced that something had happened because he had earlier overheard Figueroa saying that she was planning to go look for a job in Caye Caulker. Andrews said he didn’t know something was wrong until he tuned in to News Five last week and saw the little boy’s picture and the accompanying story that his mother was missing.
