And, while the nation is shocked by the fate of Porfiria Ramona Morales, the southern village of Hopkins is equally shaken by the tragedy that occurred in their community at the start of the weekend.
It happened on a village backstreet sometime after 10:00 on Friday night when Hopkins resident Norman Castillo also called "Birdy" or "Pajaro" was socializing in his yard as he did every Friday night. That's when a group of young men who were passing by got into an argument with Castillo but that argument resulted in a fight and in that fight one of the young men inflicted a fatal stab wound to the left side of Castillo's chest.
7News visited the family on Saturday to find out about the last moments of Norman Castillo's life.
This is the bench where Norman Castillo was sitting when he was brutally attacked by a group of young men.
It's a murder that's left his family stunned this morning and in mourning for the man they called "birdy", a good one, a construction worker and a father of 6 lost all too soon and too suddenly.
Norman's sister Nicole Castillo was still reeling from grief when we sat with her. She told us that once the altercation started there was nothing Norman's wife could have done to save him.
Nicole Castillo, Sister of the deceased
"She was sitting down with my brother in front of the house but she ran because she couldn't help because maybe she was, she would have gotten hurt so she ran to the house to call one of his sons because he was inside watching TV so she ran. For help but by the time my nephew came out my brother was already bleeding out of his mouth. So we could have known that he wouldn't have made it."
And 15 minutes later one of Birdy's best friends arrived on the scene and came face to face with Castillo's tearful and distraught widow.
Lynsdale Nasario, Friend of the deceased
"She was devastated, when I got here she came and hugged me and she cried and she told me Grind I tried to talk to him, I tried to hold him, I tried to pull him back but he's a person he will never back down, that was him he would never back down."
Cherisse Halsall:
"And so you haven't heard anything about the nature of this fight?"
Lynsdale Nasario, Friend of the deceased
"I heard it was just an argument or some kind of hard talking, you know when they say in creole terms hard talk and that's what happened."
Cherisse Halsall;
"Sir, you hang out here, every day, everyday."
Lynsdale Nasario, Friend of the deceased
"He is my personal friend, my work buddy without him at work mien it's devastating he is a jovial person mien they just chanced him out of his life I wish I was here. I wish I was here nothing like that would have ever happened. because every time we. Hang out me and him I always you know try to hold him back so that you. Know he doesn't get into trouble so that was the case."
And perhaps that inability to back down is what put Castillo at odds with his killer, a young man not from the village but from Belize City who may have taken that hard talk more seriously than Castillo or his family members could ever have expected. We asked Nicole Castillo what she knows about her brother's assailant.
Nicole Castillo, Sister of the deceased
"I heard their parents are from here, but their cousins are from Belize City, the one who killed. My brother I heard it's one of his nephews but God is good he's watching."
And that thought will have to be a comfort for this family now, something to cling to and to be reassured by as they try to navigate life without the head of their home.
Nicole Castillo, Sister of the deceased
"My brother was the sweetest, anybody could ask him for anything. He would give them he freely gives, anybody would come and ask him for anything he would give them. He has a big heart, a clean heart I don't expect this. I really and truly didn't expect this."
