Yesterday, we told you about a 23-year-old mother of three who passed away after a beatdown by her sisters-in-law.
And, tonight, three more children are motherless after a woman was found dead this morning.
39-year-old Vilma Vindel Elias was near her home in an area off the Old Well Road in Ladyville when she was murdered last night. Her family spent the night worried about her and began searching for her this morning. They eventually found her partially nude body in the bushes.
Courtney Menzies spoke with her father today and has this story.
Three children are left without their mother tonight after 39-year-old Vilma Vindel Elias's body was found partially nude in an area near her Ladyville home, on the Old Well Road.
According to the police report, she walked in that area daily. But her family became suspicious when she never returned home from babysitting her sister's kids last night, especially since her sister's home is only a stone's throw away from her own.
It was until this morning that their worst nightmares had come true.
Voice of: Jose Vindel, Father
"(Spanish) I do not know what happened, we found her dead this morning. She usually comes at 9. She didn't come last night. But I thought that she stayed with my other daughter that works in Belize. This morning, 7 or 8, when we notice that, we start to investigate, that's when we found her dead."
Her body was found in the high grass across the road from her home with an open wound above the right eye and a pair of blue slippers and black underwear a short distance away. There are reports that the body bore signs of being strangled.
One of her neighbors heard a scream last night, but said it was raining too hard to see.
This morning her family was understandably distraught, her two eldest children barely able to contain their tears. Her father, who is the pastor at the neighborhood church, now hopes for justice from the police.
Voice of: Jose Vindel, Father
"We will leave it in God's hand. They promise me to do all the possible to investigate. Nothing is impossible that God cannot do. Everything comes to the light."
"She was a good woman, she works hard, she worked in Dibary for a long while, Vilma, in Dibary. She works various places, she worked at a Hindu store. Me, like the father, I need to give a good testimony because I'm a pastor and I can't lie."
And her father believes that the lack of proper lighting in the area aided the killer, since the neighborhood is blanketed in darkness once the sun goes down. He is also wary of persons using masks that completely cover one's face.
Voice of: Jose Vindel, Father
"Some lamp post doesn't have light. The culprits take advantage, they hide in the dark. I am not against the mask, I know it's protection for everyone, but I told my kids that the mask for the criminal is a protection for them. Small masks is okay but the one that covers all your face is not good, that protects the culprit, that's when the authorities should come and deal with the mask that covers all your face."
Elias and her family had only just moved into the neighborhood about a month ago. Her two daughters are ages 15 and 8, and her son is only 2 years old.
Elias would've been celebrating her 40th birthday in December. We note that in March of 2020, 65 year old Carolyn Orio was murdered just around the corner from her home in the Lake Garden area, she was found partially nude.
