A violent and not to mention brazen rapist and murderer may still be on the loose in the Santa Elena and San Ignacio area tonight. We say he may still be on the loose because at newstime while two suspects were detained, Cayo police had yet to charge anyone for Saturday's broad daylight murder and rape of a female from the area.
The victim is Yesenia Vasquez who was beaten, raped, and then strangled to death just yards from her home. Our 7NEWS team was the first media on the scene this morning in Santa Elena tracking the victim's last steps and here's the full story.
Keith Swift Reporting, [From Santa Elena, Cayo]
Neither the arms of relatives nor the stream of tears were enough to console this grieving mother. Soila de la Rosa Vasquez is grieving inconsolably for her first born child, 21 year old Yesenia, who was killed on Saturday just 250 yards from home.
This road visible from her home is the path Yesenia would take to return home everyday after work but on Saturday when 12:20 came and Yesenia's mom did not see her making that regular religious trip home, she immediately became concerned.
Soila de la Rosa Vasquez, Mother
[Translation] "I became very worried and I said something has happened to my daughter. I know that my daughter comes straight home. We came back and stood there and called Mirtha and asked if Yesenia had arrived and she said no. So I told her to look in another direction and we walked back to come to my husband's nephew and asked him to help us search for her."
And at about the same time that her family broke into three groups to search the area between where she was last seen alive at this gas depot just off the western highway and her home in the new extension area of Santa Elena, a 9 year old neighbor who was walking past hear what may have been the dying woman's last moans. His mother Demetra Williams told him to ignore it, and now she is wracked by guilt:
Demetra Williams, Neighbor
"He told me, 'ma I heard a young lady crying in the bush.' So I asked him what kind of crying he heard and he said it sounded like a groaning. So I told him to leave the girl alone so she can [expletive] and he 'ma the girl is still crying.' And while we were passing the same area where the body was, he told me that is where he heard the girl crying. I told him to leave the people alone."
Investigators believe that Yesenia Vasquez was attacked at this spot here on this road. She was then dragged through these bushes, probably fighting and resisting all along. Her attackers eventually brought her to this spot where she was beaten, raped, and eventually strangled to death. If the area looks particularly flattened, it is because investigators had to cut it in order to search for evidence and one important clue found was a slipper found along the path which showed that Yesenia might have tried to escape but never made it.
Back at the Santa Elena and San Ignacio police station, investigators are looking for a motive. One possibility is robbery because Yesenia had just picked up her pay for the week, $125 dollars in cash, from her boss Suzette Reyes, for whom she worked as a domestic.
Suzette Reyes, Yesenia's Employer
"We were together almost all morning. I was teaching her a new dish to cook and at about 12 o'clock she told me she was finished and I just asked her if she could pass and pick up her pay here at the office because I didn't take it up there. That was basically the last time I saw her."
But Yesenia may have been killed by more than just a robber and for more than just the $125 she had on her. Assistant Superintendent of Police Godfrey Smith says investigators believe she knew her attacker.
ASP Godfrey Smith, Acting O.C. Cayo Police
"We suspect she was raped, she was robbed, and then she was murdered. With the rape, after the post mortem then we will confirm that. And with the robbery she received her salary at 12 midday, and she left for home and she did not reach home, and at the scene there was no money there so we suspect she was robbed also."
Keith Swift,
What would indicate to you that she knew her attacker?
ASP Godfrey Smith,
"Well with my experience, an attacker will not just go and attack any person, especially in a way like this. I think maybe it is somebody who saw her and fell in love with her and she did not pay mind to that person. I believe an attacker will not just attack just like that, he has to have something and have it building up until it comes to a certain point."
But those who knew this 21-year-old find that hard to believe. Her family vow she had no boyfriends and always returned home promptly after work and her boss describes Yesenia as a virtuous Christian lady.
Suzette Reyes, Yesenia's Employer
"She was a very quiet, humble, trustworthy person. She was a very sweet girl. It's very difficult for everybody to understand why this has happened to her. She always wore long dresses and she was a Christian girl. She was always a happy person which is why when they told me this brutal thing had happened to her, and I went to see where it had happened and I saw it, I said 'my goodness she just left my house, how could this happen in about 15 or 20 minutes from leaving my home.'"
Soila de la Rosa Vasquez, Mother
[Translation] "What harm did my daughter do to him for him to have done this to her? Why did he do it? I ask God to give him what he deserves. That is all I ask for and for justice to be done, that the law punishes him. What they have done to my daughter is not fair."
And while she feels as if she has nothing left to lose, this community has to live with the knowledge that a killer may be on the loose and in their midst.
Demetra Williams, Neighbor
"But it's so dangerous to see so much bushes and thing. We need to get more lights, we need to get more people looking out for each other in this neighborhood. We need to get this place clean up and to look out for each other."
Keith Swift,
How concerned should residents of the San Ignacio and Santa Elena area be that not only is a killer on the loose, but a violent and bold killer?
ASP Godfrey Smith, Acting O.C. Cayo Police
"That's why we need for the people and the police to work together because somebody must have seen or known something. Something must have been out there, somebody must know something and they must come forward to the police because if you keep your mouth shut, today it is that person and tomorrow it might be you. So its best to come forward. A killer is out there and it's very serious."
But community policing is no consolation for this mother...as the tears flowed at the family home, her mother keeps watch on the road knowing her daughter will never walk that way again.
Cayo police again have two suspects in custody but up this evening charges, if any, were still pending. A post mortem is also pending. Funeral arrangements are scheduled for tomorrow. Yesenia's family is from Guatemala. They have lived in Belize for the past 18 years, most of which they spent in the Spanish Lookout area. The family moved to Santa Elena 5 years ago and relocated to the new extension area in Santa Elena just 3 months ago.
