An American national was found dead in Placencia yesterday. He has been identified as 58 year old Bruce Bedtelyon from Michigan who has been living in Placencia for two months. No foul play is suspected and police believe he died peacefully in his sleep. But how he died isn’t the news tonight – an outraged community is. That is because 24 hours after his badly decomposed body was discovered and reported to police – they still haven’t moved it! And they probably won’t do so until tomorrow! It’s caused a serious stink in that community and our 7NEWS team went to Placencia this afternoon to find out why.
Keith Swift Reporting,
For four days Bruce Bedtedlyon’s body has been on his bed, rotting inside the one bedroom apartment he’s called home for two months. Bruce’s body was discovered yesterday. It was nude and decomposing. Based on the state of decomposition, neighbours believe he may have been dead since Tuesday. That is why they are outraged that twenty four hours after his body was found, he is still in his bedroom nude and decomposing.
And they’re outraged with good reason. The stench has enveloped the neighbourhood. Swarms of flies are at his windows, children in the area have to cover their noses and the noxious smell has driven Lucrecia Avila out of her house.
Lucrecia Avila, Area Resident
“It smells bad. We can’t stay home, we have to go out most of
the day, come back, and then go out again because it smells real bad. We saw the police yesterday and we thought they would come for the body from last night because that smells bad. I just came from Cayo and I heard about it yesterday night so it really is affecting everybody around here. We just want them to take out the body or take the body from here because it is not a nice smell.”
Keith Swift,
And you have to sleep here tonight.
Lucrecia Avila,
“Well hopefully I won’t sleep here, I might find somewhere to go and stay tonight or just spend the whole night out because I don’t think I want to sleep in this house with that smell.”
Bismark Westby,
“They found this body after two days and nobody didn’t know until they started seeing flies and stuff and now they have this body was lying down with nothing covering the body but that is kind of irresponsible.”
For Bruce’s landlords, Luis Leslie and Bernadine Anderson, who found his body, it is just plain wrong.
Louis Leslie, Landlord
“I suggest why they don’t have a body bag to at least put him
in now before it goes too bad because the man is rotting. They said they don’t have a body bag and I told them to let’s wrap him up and they said no, the morgue doesn’t want him in Dangriga because they only accept fresh death, they don’t want no decomposed body.
They say they have to leave him until tomorrow. Tomorrow will make it five days being there. Right now he is in a bad state of decomposition, worms and maggots are getting to him now. I need them to do something, this is a human being. They left that man naked on that bed and they haven’t tried putting something on him, they haven’t tried moving him. That man needs to move from there. He really is stinking the neighbourhood and everything now and until tomorrow, I don’t know if anything will be left there for them to do anything with.”
Bernadine Anderson, Landlord
“I am very upset yes because that is very undignified what they do with that man. Really you wouldn’t want anybody to do you that. At least if you find you dead, put you in something, take you to a morgue so that people don’t smell you. It is not dignified what they did with that guy and as a visitor to the country it makes us really look small that the police don’t have a body bag and then they are claiming the morgue in Dangriga refused the body. How could a morgue refuse the body? Come on, it makes us really look bad as Belizeans. And the thing with Bruce is that he is a private person so for people to view him naked, it is very sad what happened to him.”
Residents note that this isn’t the first time a body has been left to rot in Placencia.
James Brackett,
“There was an incident a few months ago, it was two to three months ago in which a decomposed body was found in the same manner and it was left out there for days just like this one so I think it needs to be looked on.”
Officer in charge of Placencia Police Sergeant Norman Benguche told us it’s not because they don’t have a body bag. He says that due to the state of decomposition, they cannot move the body until a forensic doctor can conduct an onsite post mortem. The earliest will be tomorrow. The body is under police guard and we are told that his mother is flying in tomorrow to claim the body.
