Double murder in the west is followed by a late evening killing in Camalote

Alry Rose Sardido

The relative peace of the capital has been shattered by a double murder which it is believed occurred on Saturday morning. And by four-thirty this afternoon, another murder was reported, this time in neighboring Camalote village. Details are still sketchy, but information received says that a masked man shot another individual multiple times, killing him. The murder happened in an area commonly known as Good Living Ranch.  But back to the weekend double homicide. Just after eleven-thirty on Saturday morning, Belmopan police recovered the body of twenty-five year old Philippine national, Alry Rose Sardido, on the bank of a creek in the village of Roaring Creek. And just after noon today, they retrieved the body of a male person from the Belize River near Guanacaste Park. Both bodies displayed injuries which indicate violent deaths. Today investigators are still trying to put the pieces together to determine the motive of the murders believed to be related. Mike Rudon was in Belmopan and has this story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

On the weekends, especially when the days are hot like they’ve been recently, residents of Roaring Creek and nearby Belmopan flock to this popular area known as the Falls. People go there to hang out, to swim in the river or just to chill in the cool, shallow waters of the creek which feeds it.

Police say that’s likely what twenty-five year old Alry Rose Sardido had planned on Saturday morning. But instead of a good time, the young Filipino woman instead found death at this spot. Some young boys who went swimming at around eleven thirty that Saturday morning saw something floating in the river, and discovered her lifeless body. She had injuries and abrasions to her head and face.

Residents of the area told us that at around ten thirty the woman had been seen walking toward the creek with a light-complexioned male. They told Police the same thing, which led to investigators to a vehicle left at the scene, and subsequently the hunt for another person.

Sinquest Martinez

ASP Sinquest Martinez, O.C., Belmopan Formation

“Shortly after this female was found, we conducted an intensive investigation. A Toyota Tacoma was found at the scene which was locked up and that lead us as a senior investigator; it shows that the female wasn’t by herself. We brought in the canine unit that did a land search. We bring in the coast guard and the dog led us to an area and after which the coast guard officers continued to search and subsequently the body was found this morning.”

The body of a man was found just after lunch, after an intensive search. Starting at the point where the body of Alry Rose Sardido had been found, the Coast Guard combed the river between Roaring Creek and Banana Bank, and made their gruesome discovery near the Guanacaste Park. The body of that man, identified as American David Reichel was retrieved and transported to the morgue at the Western Regional Hospital.

ASP Sinquest Martinez

“We believe that both of them went swimming at the Creek and they were robbed. They were robbed and murdered and one was thrown into the river and one was thrown into the creek.”

The body of Reichel was taken to the morgue in Belmopan, but that facility was full. So after a half-hour wait in the boiling sun, the body was finally transported, in the back of an open Police pickup, to the morgue at the K.H.M.H. Mike Rudon for News Five.

Police are not releasing much further information pending what is being considered a high-level investigation. News Five was informed, however, that two persons are in custody. Sardido has been living in Belize a little over a year, while Reichel was earlier employed at the Ministry of Health as a Senior Statistical Analyst. His contract ended on July thirty-first.