Police have suspects but no one is detained tonight for the murder of 20-year-old David Daniel Pook. Pook's body was found early this morning in the bushes off Faber's Road. 7NEWS was first on the scene and his family told us why they think he was killed.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
This morning at 7:30, the body of 20-year-old David Pook was found here in the bushes behind Bingo King on Faber’s Road. Police cordoned off the area and reported that the body was in an advanced state of decomposition. When his parents arrived, his father former policemen Regino Pook put his hand across his head in anguish, expecting the terror of the sight that awaited him. His mother broke into a sprint, but they were both stopped by police officers who were guarding the scene. As Regino Pook doubled over in pain and the family hugged each other for comfort. His father said his son’s life had been under threat.
Regino Pook, Father
“About a month ago a guy had pulled a gun on my son. The gun snapped, he ran through the bush, and he came home. He is not a person to go out, this is just one of the situations he was in. The Friday morning he got two text messages with death threats. One of them said, ‘the first time the gun snapped and the second time it will not.’ I don’t know what is the cause of death is now, if it was by bullet or gunshot what, I can’t say. Then he got another message saying, ‘today will be your last day.’ I don’t know.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you have idea why someone was after your son in such a persistent way, to execute him?
Regino Pook,
“The only thing that he told me was that the reason he got the death threats was due to a girlfriend.”
But there was no gun this time, police say he was stabbed to death, multiple wounds to his leg and body. He was last seen by a relative on Friday night at 11:00 at the BTL Park. The last family member that he saw was his aunt.
Regino Pook,
“She was going to leave the park and she told my son, David, she was leaving the park. He begged her to please don’t leave him alone.”
After that he went to a friend’s home in the Lake Independence area. He left shortly after midnight, telling his friend that he would walk the 5 blocks to his home on Police Street.
Regino Pook,
“He left from there and he went to Derrol Vernon’s house in the Lake Independence Area. Approximately minutes after midnight, which would be early Saturday morning, he was leaving Mr. Vernon’s house and he told Mr. Vernon he had a date for one o’clock the morning but he had to go home first. He never did reach my house.”
But he never made it to his father’s house. And when he never came home on Saturday morning, this father says he knew he would find his son dead. From before that time, this retired police officer went to his former force brothers begging for help.
Regino Pook,
“We had made a cry to the Police Department. I personally had made a cry Saturday. My son had received some death threats. The recent one was Friday morning. I tried to explain to the police officer, at the CIB Department, they told me plain that we have to wait 48 hours for a missing person. I distinctly asked the officer what if you could save the person’s life before then. I even informed the officer that I am an old veteran of the department, I gave them my number, 330. They didn’t listen to my cry.”
And because of that, all this weekend, Pook mobilized friends and family to do their own search.
Regino Pook,
“I had made searches from Belize City to the Western Highway to six miles. I had searched from Belize City to Saltcreek Range in Ladyville.”
Jules Vasquez,
So you’ve been searching non-stop?
Regino Pook,
“Without the help of the Police Department or any government institution.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you think that if the police had intervened when you had requested them to, do you think they could have made a difference?
Regino Pook,
“Well we could have found the body earlier and it wouldn’t have been in this state of decomposition. We would have had better evidence earlier.”
Jules Vasquez,
Were you doing it in the certainty that you were looking for your dead son?
Regino Pook,
“Yes. My son is not like that. If my son leaves from home and he would spend the night out, he would call us. He would never go away and don’t inform us of his whereabouts. I….”
And as these parents looked on at the crime scene for answers, it yielded none of the details of their son’s death. Within an hour, they would get to see him and collect his decomposed remains, put them into a hastily prepared coffin, and carted off to the Lord’s Ridge Cemetery for a quick burial. And while his remains are buried, this mother hopes that the mystery of his death is not interred with him.
Police say that the text message threats are useful pieces of evidence but they don’t make it an open and shut case and in fact, they are just one piece of evidence, among many others, that they are looking at.
