Two females - a mother and her daughter - were executed last night at the entrance to Corozal town. They were at the family owned Hotel - when a group of killers came in.
They apparently didn't want money or jewelry, they just wanted the women dead.
Corozal police are trying to figure out why and we went north today looking for answers:...
Jules Vasquez reporting
It is called Paradise Bay Villa, and the hotel's charming slogan is, "You're never a stranger in Paradise" But last night, 3 strange men came to Paradise to kill.
They shot the owner, 35 year-old Clari Celine, and her 18 year-old daughter Shanny Fredersdorf.
Supt. Gualberto Garcia - O/C Corozal
"These two individuals were ambushed somewhere behind their house by three male persons of dark skin complexion. Indications are all of these persons had what appear to be stockings over their heads for which they were not identified."
Krsna Reneau, BTL employee, was staying at the hotel - as he had many times before. He heard the screams and sounds of gunshots.
Krsna Reneau, Guest at Paradise
"We heard scream and shortly after the scream we heard 3 gunshots. I quickly jump off the sofa and I went to the door and that when I observed 3 dark skin males exiting the compound. After they went a little ways off I went to the back of the building and I observed the owners laying on the ground; which is the daughter and the mother."
Jules Vasquez
"In what state were they?"
Krsna Reneau, Guest at Paradise
"One of them appeared to be dead and the other one was gasping for air, which is when I quickly called the police and the came shortly after."
Jules Vasquez
"So all three people left on foot or they had a vehicle waiting?"
Krsna Reneau, Guest at Paradise
"They were on feet."
Reporter
"Were they wearing any masks?"
Krsna Reneau, Guest at Paradise
"From what I observed they weren't wearing any masks."
Reporter
"At what direction were they running to?"
Krsna Reneau, Guest at Paradise
"They were heading towards the direction towards the ferry."
There were no signs of forced entry, and both females still had on their jewelry, but still, police cannot if it was an execution, or a robbery.
Jules Vasquez
"If there is no robbery then it begins to look like an execution."
Supt. Gualberto Garcia - O/C Corozal
"Like I said earlier we have not ruled out robbery and I cannot give you a specific motive as you would like. I would like to have a motive myself so that we lead our investigation in a specific direction, but from all indications we cannot rule it out and I cannot rule it as a robbery, why, because the person who died first at the scene - she had all her jewelry on herself."
"There has not been any indication, we have process the scene and we have search the entire building, we have seen the exit areas, the entry areas, the door and windows and there has not been any evidence to suggest that was any form of force entry into the building. In fact we do not have any evidence that these 3 individuals who committed had entered the building any at all. We have two persons in custody who are of interest and we are interviewing them at this point. But at this point I cannot assure that we have anybody at such that we can definitely say is really involved in this unfortunate incident that happened last night here in Corozal Town."
This is only the second and third homicide in Corozal this year, and it is a particularly disturbing one, a mother and her recently-graduated teenage daughter, executed at their place of business
Supt. Gualberto Garcia - O/C Corozal
"This young girl just came off our list as a member of our youth cadet corps; she was a very prominent member of our cadet corp. Her boyfriend as well was a member of our cadet corp. They have been known as business people, her husband have passed away I believe a month ago due to illness and there is no indication that we have to give us any lead as id to have any reason to believe that there was any specific intention for this incident to have happen."
"At this time I cannot rule out any of the motives, but I can neither say that robbery was the motive. There is no indication that anything was stolen from the house which would give us all kinds of ideas but as I mentioned at this point I am not in a position to say that robbery was a motive or that it was not a motive."
Reporter
"I understand that there was a safe in one of the bedrooms that was crack open."
Supt. Gualberto Garcia - O/C Corozal
"That is true. We have had reliable information that there was a safe and we have seen the safe, at this moment we have spoken to the care taker of the business and he has accepted that himself and the boyfriend of the young girl Shanny, they were the ones who pried open this safe for them to get whatever monies they could get for them to try and get her out of Karl Heusner Hospital to see if there was any chances for her to survive by transferring her to another institution."
"It was a family - well known in the Corozal community and its a mother and daughter, it is very painful and we are seriously looking into this incident and just hope that the community here in Corozal and where ever else can assist us as much as possible for us to give closure to this very sad incident."
Krsna Reneau, Guest at Paradise
"I had the privilege of meeting the owner; the husband, he recently passed away about a month ago."
Jules Vasquez
"Apart from the shock there had to be some sadness mixed in there as well to see two people who you'd come to know overtime, especially killed in such a merciless fashion."
Krsna Reneau, Guest at Paradise
"Yes it was but like I say it's something that we deal with on a daily basis in Belize City, so you start to get used to it. I know it's hard to say, but that's the reality of it."
No expended shells were found at the scene and police suspect that the gunman may have used a revolver. The teenager was shot to the head, and her mother was shot in the arm and the armpit.
The suspects are two males: one from Orange Walk and the other, a minor, from Belize City. They were found walking on the road some time after the murder.
