79 year old grandfather and Orange Walk Resident Jose Ku had been missing since October 11th. of this year. His family feared the worst - because he was not the roaming type - and had never picked up and left before.
And their worst fears were confirmed yesterday when police were called out to a savannah area on the outskirts of August Pine Ridge Village.
That's where they found the severely decomposed body of an elderly male.
Now, this place is remote, inaccessible by vehicle - and there's no way he could have walked out there.
So how did he get there, and who killed him. That's the puzzle that the family is trying to untangle tonight.
Monica Bodden joined them today:
Monica Bodden Reporting
79 year old Jose Ku - a villager of August Pine Ridge was found dead yesterday - in a pool of water - 4 miles out the village. He had been missing since October 11 - 5 weeks ago.
The last time he was seen, he was wearing a straw hat and using his walking stick.
Monica Bodden
"When did you first realize that your father went missing?"
Ipolito Ku - Son of Deceased
"It was on October 11, a Tuesday. He told me that he was going to one of my brothers to get something he had borrowed - I guessed that it was a machete."
Monica Bodden "Did You along with others begin searching?"
Ipolito Ku
"3 of us went to look for him, one including my nephew. I begged him not to leave, and he had never been lost before, but I trusted that he would have come back."
Monica Bodden
"Now, the area that your area was found, is that a place that he would normally go?"
Ipolito Ku
"He is very old, and that area is very far for him to travel."
Ku's body was found about 4 miles out the village through this picado road. It had to be accessed by foot because our vehicle could not make it through the mud.
He was found lying in this pool of water. One arm and one leg were missing. Neither His straw hat, shoes nor walking stick was nowhere in sight. His family believes he was killed and then placed there.
Monica Bodden
"Who found him?"
Ipolito Ku
"A friend of my by the name of Joe Magana went fishing, and he was the one who found him. He came directly to us and told us that he had found my dad."
Monica Bodden
"In what state was he in when you guys found him?"
Ipolito Ku
"When we found my father, his face was in the water, and he was already dead and in a decomposed state."
Monica Bodden
"Was any part of his body missing?"
Ipolito Ku
"One of his hands - he didn't have it, and one of his legs was not there anymore."
Today, his friends and family gathered at the village cemetery - waiting on police and a doctor to do a post mortem on Ku's decomposed body - before he is laid to rest.
Police have not issued a report but we do know that they are investigating it as an apparent homicide...
