Belize City police are trying to find out what happened to a couple who tonight remain missing but are feared dead. Earl Young Crawford worked as a watchman at Brown’s Caye situated nine miles southeast of Belize City. Crawford lived on the island with his girlfriend, Myrtle Gill. The couple arrived at the caye on Saturday and was last seen alive that evening. But sometime between Saturday night and early Tuesday morning it appears that something terrible transpired on the caye. The caye’s owner Walter Brown is the person who made the disturbing recovery on Tuesday morning. And alerted the police. Brown told 7NEWS that yesterday morning he headed out to sea and decided to make a routine stop at the caye. Brown says as he approached the island everything seemed to be intact until he realized he could not find the watchman. Brown told us what he saw that made him call the police.
Walter Brown,
“We got to the pier and the watchman didn’t come out and I found that extremely strange. So I went on to the back, I shouted, ‘watchie what happened, you didn’t hear the boat coming.’ I didn’t get a response so I went to the back, there are two houses on the caye, the front one is ours, the back one belongs to the worker, and the doors were open, wide open, I didn’t find that strange because it was daytime and I thought they were just relaxing, it was about 11 and so when I got there, didn’t get any response, I went up the steps. The first thing that attracted my attention was on the house, the apartment that is on the south side, I saw the mattresses in the middle of the house and I said that is unusual and then when I looked inside the other half, I saw blood on one of the beds, there was a blanket on the floor, there was what appeared to be blood on the floor too and so I called to the boatman who had taken me out there, I said look something drastic has happened here, something awful and he came up and looked and said he agreed and I said listen, we got to call the police right away. I didn’t go further inside the house because one I was scared and two I thought I didn’t want to get any contamination on me son I was flustered really and all I said was something terrible went on here and the quicker we could get to the police the better and I did that.
And then we looked around, we didn’t see anybody and then I looked over to the other house, I said let me go over there, and I saw the kitchen door, it was like somebody kicked it down, the little bar that we have constructed, that was wide open, then I looked upstairs and the house upstairs was open and I didn’t see that when I went there, that wasn’t my first observation and then I went upstairs and kicked the door with my foot, it was half open, and then all the rooms were broken into, they just broke the locks off. I had an outboard motor, I bought that for my grandson, that is gone. Some of the rafts I had there were gone and little odds and ends but I didn’t bother about that because to me that was material, what was important was that we find the two people and what appeared there looked really tragic to me. When the police came I met them and I took them to the scene and they did their investigation. We had walked around as far as I could and looked and didn’t see anybody didn’t find anything."
Jacqueline Godwin,
Did the police find anything additional?
Walter Brown,
“They went into detail of the house and I can remember one of the detectives finding a knife which they handed over to the forensic lady. I could remember a little bit later they found a brassiere that belonged to the young lady and they also handed that over. But what they did inside the house I don’t know, I didn’t see. I was not inside with them, I just kept outside while they were there and then when they had completed then we left. They went over to the main house and did the same things over there and when they were completed they left.”
Sources tell seven news that the disappearance of Earl Young Crawford and his girlfriend Gail is not the result of any robbery but that someone went looking for Crawford. Why? Well that is what the police are trying to determine. The Crawford family who declined to be interviewed told 7news that while their son and brother has not yet been found they strongly believe that he has been killed. According to the acting officer in charge of Belize City Crimes Investigation Branch Inspector Hilberto Romero based on what investigators saw on the caye, they are sure that someone has been seriously injured. This afternoon, inspector Romero did speak with 7NEWS Jacqueline Godwin. According to Romero, a team of investigators are now vigorously working on the case.
Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Police found blood on a knife and based on the observation that was found in the rooms we suspect something may have occurred.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Was there blood on the knife?
Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Yes there was blood on the knife.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Do the police believe this knife may have been used in this incident?
Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Well the forensics will be conducting tests on that knife and that will be determined by that. The knife had blood so we are trying to piece together what happened there.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What are the police’s strong suspicion in terms of the couple’s whereabouts, do the police believe that they are in trouble, that they are alive or dead?
Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“We cannot ascertain that at this time. Like I mentioned we have a team of officers working on the case and as time goes by they will try and establish what occurred.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
But based on what was observed at the scene, it does not look good.
Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Well based on what was seen it appears that something may have happened to this couple.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Information reaching 7NEWS is that this is not a case of robbery and that whatever may have happened had to do with Mr. Crawford and something he might have did in the past.
Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Well like I mentioned the investigation is new and we cannot ascertain what it might have been but we have information that something was also stolen from the particular where this find was located.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What was taken?
Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“We have that an engine was stolen, an outboard engine was stolen. We are conducting a thorough investigation but our officers are gathering more information but we have at this time that yes the engine has been stolen. We are getting some information, we have persons that are providing us with information that we are working on now. We would like to appeal to the general public if you have any information you can call us at the 922 hotline or at Crimes Investigation Branch and pass on whatever information you may have. You might have seen these persons so we need all that information so that it could assist our information to find out what happened to this couple.”
Romero did confirm to7NEWS that all the buildings on the caye were ransacked and that in one of the buildings they did find a twelve inch kitchen knife. While the Crawford family told 7NEWS that they do not believe the incident is as a result of revenge for whatever John Earl Young Crawford may have done, Belize City police have been investigating the case from all angles. It is not the first time that John Earl Young Crawford has been in the news. In 2004 he was charged for the murder of police officer Ewin Armstrong who was shot and killed as he walked over the Belcan Bridge. While Crawford did serve time in Hattieville Prison he was never convicted because 7NEWS understands the witness did not appear to testify in the case. One year ago John Earl Crawford was released from jail and shortly after someone shot him. According to police it was around that time Crawford left Belize City to go and work on the caye and they believe he did that because he feared for his life.
