Last night we told you about the death that police are calling an apparent suicide. Ryheem John Vasquez also known as Franz Leopold WESTBY was found at 6:00 am in the Lord's Ridge Cemetery dead; he was hanging from a tree with an electrical wire around his neck.
A post mortem showed that he died from hanging and there were no other signs of violence on the body, but his family says he had no reason to commit suicide - and besides that there were other anomalies about the state he was found in. His sister Kimberly Westby explained….
Kimberly Westby, sister
"The family at this time - what we know him by - that he wouldn't do something like that."
Jules Vasquez
"So you all believe he was murdered?
Kimberly Westby, sister
"Yes he was, that's what we believe that he was murder. He would never commit suicide. Never."
Jules Vasquez
"Sometimes people are depress, family members may be depress and we don't know the depths of their depression. Might it be that he was depress? I know he had to appear in court in Dangriga today."
Kimberly Westby, sister
"Yes he was supposed to appear in court but that would be the case because then he had told my mom that he had to go to court and then he had to reach the court and he did not. The person that bail him he did not want that person to get in trouble."
Jules Vasquez
"He had some pieces of cloth on his hand. The police said that it appears that he had it to cut grass, but his hand wasn't tied. The cloth was wrap around his hand as someone would do to protect themselves from blisters when they are cutting grass. Would he cut grass for a living?"
Kimberly Westby, sister
"No, he did not. He did not cut grass for a living."
Jules Vasquez
"Would he be in the cemetery with something like that?"
Kimberly Westby, sister
"He wouldn't even cut his own grass. He would consider that as hard work or something like that."
Jules Vasquez
"What have you all found out so far about the circumstances or events leading up to his murder?"
Kimberly Westby, sister
Unfortunately today the family had found out certain that he wasn't in the cemetery by himself. He was in the cemetery with two dread male persons."
Vasquez Westby lived close to the cemetery but was not known to hang out there. A post mortem confirmed that he died from ASPHYXIA DUE TO HANGING.
