Taxi-man Burned in Car; Cause of Death Undetermined

Hugo Moreno

Hugo Moreno’s remains were so charred that the cause of death could not be determined. The body of the taxi driver was found in the trunk of his dodge car on Tuesday afternoon off the Carmelita Road in the Orange Walk District. His wife says he went missing over the weekend after he went to work at a local event. She believes the motive behind the brutal murder was robbery. Moreno leaves behind his wife and three children. Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Forty-two year old Hugo Moreno, a mechanic and taxi-driver of Orange Walk Town was killed and his body discovered just after two p.m. on Tuesday. He was found inside the trunk of his white cab that had been completely destroyed by fire in Carmelita Village just outside of the town. Moreno was working at the popular Fiestarama event in Suga City before he met his demise. When she could not reach him just after one on Sunday morning, his wife felt that something was wrong. He didn’t make it home later that day and on Monday made a missing report to the police.

Magda Moreno, Wife of Murder Victim

“He spoke to me at about one-thirty a.m. and told me that he will give my daughter ten minutes to come out from the fair so that he can give her a ride home. He was going to drop my daughter and her friend home, but he was giving them ten minutes more. So when called me, I told him it was really late. So I called my daughter and I told her to go out because he was waiting for her. But when she exited the grounds, she did not see her father. She called me and I told her to wait a little while because he will soon reach. She then called him herself and there was no answer. I also started calling and there was no response.”

Julius Cantun

According to police, the father of three was last seen on Sunday morning at around two-thirty as he picked up a fare from Trial Farm. But on Tuesday, the missing case turned murder following the gruesome discovery.

Insp. Julius Cantun, Acting Deputy O.C., Orange Walk Police Formation

“Orange Walk police received information about a burnt car about a mile and a half on the outskirts of Carmelita Village. As a result, Orange Walk police visited the area and came across the burnt vehicle which was subsequently identified as the vehicle reported missing and belonging to Mister Hugo Ernesto Moreno. Further checks within the vehicle revealed what appears to be the charred remains of a human body stuck in the trunk of the said car. As a result the scenes of crime personnel, the technicians were called out, they processed the scene; police recorded further statements. The body was transported to the Orange Walk Hospital Morgue. He was last seen about two or two-thirty a.m. on Monday morning in the vicinity of Trial Farm village.”

Duane Moody

“Is it believed that it was his fare that took his life? The person that he picked up maybe that took his life.”

Insp. Julius Cantun

“We are following all leads that are forthcoming and the information is that yes he had been hired to run taxi, he was hired for his services. And we are certainly looking for these persons so that we can speak to them in terms of this investigation.”

The motive as to why anyone would want to take Moreno’s life is still a mystery say the authorities. But for the wife, she suspects that he was robbed before his life was taken.

Insp. Julius Cantun

“The investigation is still in its initial stage. The motive for this crime has not been established thus far; however, we are following certain leads and we are looking for certain suspects that have been mentioned to us during the course of this investigation.”

Magda Moreno

“Only that they robbed him of his money; that it was an assault because he definitely had money on his person. He without a doubt had about five hundred dollars on him. The vehicle valued nothing; the car was burnt to nothing. There is no use for the car now.”

Moreno’s charred remains and burnt vehicle were discovered on this grassy road some hundred yards off a feeder road at the far end of Carmelita Village; it was an abandoned area approximately a mile and a half from the nearest house in the village, where no one would have heard the blast as the vehicle was being burned with Moreno in the trunk. It is painful for his mother, Virginia Arana, as her son was found far, but yet so close to where she lived in Carmelita.

Virginia Arana, Mother of Murder Victim

Virginia Arana

“Well in my head, I’m thinking a lot of different things. The way my son was killed…it is not like he was a criminal that he deserved to have been killed that way. That is in my heart and it hurts. I felt that something would go wrong and I told him, “My son, why are you going to become a taxi-driver? Please don’t be a taxi driver? You know how the times are and that it is dangerous to be taxi driver. Even for the three cents you have in your wallet, they will not only rob you, but take your life. And yes it was really close to where I live in Carmelita. We went looking for him on Monday; at the location where he was last seen at the fair and then to the station. We then went to Guinea Grass the entire afternoon looking for him, but nothing. Never did I think that in my own village, they would have left my son’s body.”

This is the first recorded murder for 2013 in the Orange Walk District. Duane Moody for News Five.