There was a double murder in the valley of peace community over the weekend. Two men were killed – one, a farmer and the other, his worker. It was a particularly brutal double murder as both men received severe chops to their head and no one in the village located a few miles outside of Belmopan seems to know what triggered the slaying. Here is the story from Valley of Peace.
Keith SwiftReporting,
The double murder took place inside this house on Calle Sinley Street in Valley of Peace. This is the house that 49 year old Miguel Mendoza called home and it is inside his house that he and a worker on his farm were brutally chopped to death between Friday night and Saturday morning. Rudy Williams found the bodies at 7 on Saturday morning.
Rudy Williams, Found Body
“I knocked on the door, softly, and then nobody answered. Then I touched a little more harder and the door fly open. When I walked in I see it and just
turned right around back.”
Keith Swift,
“What did you see?”
Rudy Williams,
“One man on the bed and one man on the ground.”
Keith Swift,
“Dead?”
Rudy Williams,
“No my cousin wasn’t dead yet. He was still groaning.”
Keith Swift,
“What were the injuries?”
Rudy Williams,
“Well I don’t know about the one on the bed, I know my cousin, his hair were on the ground so like only his skull was showing.”
Keith Swift,
“So like part of his head had been chopped off?”
Rudy Williams,
“I just saw it and what I told you is what I saw, his hair was so and he was faced down so.
First time in my whole life I see that, first time.”
Rudy Williams described the scene inside the small house as grisly. Miguel Mendoza was on the ground. His head had been cut in two but he seemed to be still alive. 36 year old Jose Luis Medina was on the bed and he too had a chop wound to the head but was apparently already dead. By the time police arrived both men were dead.
Sgt. Solomon Westby, Lead Investigator
“On arrival they found two male persons with chop wounds to the head. We at this moment cannot establish what exactly happened but the police do know that two male persons were found with suspected chop wounds to the head and that is the circumstances at this moment.”
Linda Mendoza, Sister of Murder Victim
“I would a just want justice prevail because it is a cold murder happened; cold.”
And what’s puzzling to Linda Mendoza is why someone would brutally kill her brother. She says that Miguel was a hardworking farmer dedicated to the 100 acres he owned.
Linda Mendoza,
“He had his farm, he has his farm back there. He had has his farm
for 28 to 29 years he deh dah Valley of Peace. My brother is a person who nuh have problem with nobody. He always the tek people in at his house, anybody could come and stay at his house is welcomed there anytime so I don’t know if it is because of his land. I don’t know him to have problem with anybody. I don’t really know.”
Rudy Williams,
“I wouldn’t see why, I wouldn’t see why because the man hasn’t done anybody. As far as I concerned I haven’t seen him in no kind of problem with nobody or nothing like that so I don’t know. I don’t know about the next boy, like I tell you I don’t know about that man. I just get to see the man when I went to Valley. To say I know him, I don’t know him. The man I know good is my blood cousin, that I know good because we tek we drink together, we sleep together, and we eat together, we drink coffee together, and we spoke cigarette together. I know Miguel all my life because that is my blood cousin. Medina, I don’t know him. I see him but I don’t know him.”
Keith Swift,
“Was he the guy you went to look for, Medina?”
Rudy Williams,
“Yes dah he I went to look for his boss man.”
Police are searching for the possible motive.
Keith Swift,
“Any apparent motive at this point?”
Sgt. Solomon Westby,
“At this moment we cannot establish what is the motive.”
Keith Swift,
“Because we’ve heard it might have been maybe a dispute over land?”
Sgt. Solomon Westby,
“At this point we cannot say that. We would just want to inform the people in the village if anybody knows anything more than what the police have been investigating, they can kindly inform us. They can contact the Valley of Peace Police or the Belmopan Police and any information will be welcomed.”
Again police have few leads. Jose Luis Medina is originally from Benque and he was buried yesterday.
