Back in May, when the country saw 21 murders - a tie for the most murderous month in the past decade - the Corozal district had been spared from all that bloodshed. But that reprieve quickly ended and in the past five weeks, when there have been three murders in Corozal.
The most recent, Angel Chimal, has left his family in shock since he was a friendly locksmith who didn't cause trouble. His wife is now left to figure out what exactly happened in the 10 and a half hours that he was away from her. Courtney Menzies has this story.
When Guadalupe Chimal arrived home at 6pm on Thursday, she never expected to find a pool of blood and her husband's dead body.
Angel Chimal's murder is the third one in the Corozal District in the past five weeks, but his wife is confused about what could have been the motive. She told our colleagues at CTV3 that her husband had no enemies, and that he was a hardworking man.
Guadalupe Chimal, Wife of Deceased
"(Spanish) I found the house open. I saw his bicycle by the door so I was calling him. I walked inside the house, inside the kitchen and I saw the pool of blood right in front of me. I was calling, Angel, Angel, where are you? He didn't answer me. I called my father if he can come because something has happened, I can't find my husband, I only see blood, but I don't see him, he's not around. That's when my father came, he went checking around the trees. I sat and was thinking what could have happened to him. My father yelled at him and he said, he's here, he's here. So I walked towards him and that's where we found him on the floor. I didn't touch him, but I saw he was dead."
"I only saw blood under his head and the police told me that he has a cut wound by the chin and a stab by his throat. I don't know why they killed him, I don't know if he had an enemy that I didn't know about. I don't understand."
Chimal said that the last time she saw her husband alive was when he was heading to work in Consejo.
Guadalupe Chimal, Wife of Deceased
"(Spanish) When I come here, he stays alone or sometimes go out and do a little work. Like 7:30, a call came in so he went to work to Consejo. It was the last I knew about him. He got into a black vehicle, fully tinted, so dark you couldn't see who was inside and he went. I got up, I had breakfast, and I came to my father, after that I didn't know anything about him until I came back 6."
And while he didn't have any enemies, she said he had a lot of acquaintances since he travelled around the district to work. Police have yet to identify a motive.
