19 year old Imarie Galvez went missing on May 14th - and, two months later, her family fears that the momentum for the investigation into her murder is fading fast - and that they may never know justice.
This week the family got a letter from police telling them that they may now have to wait 2 years until they get another break in the case.
That's exactly what they didn't want to hear. Jomarie Lanza spoke to her father about it today in Belmopan:
2 months have passed since 19 year old Imarie Galvez was murdered and discarded off a feeder road near mile 40 on the Hummingbird Highway. The chilling tale of her death is every mother's worst nightmare, and may be a testament to what so many say: "that anyone can get away with murder in Belize."
With two months having passed and still no clear answers as to who and why would anyone want her dead. The family was forced to wait and rely on one specific piece of evidence for closure, Imarie's cell phone, an iPhone 13 - only to be told this week, after the phone was handed over to the US Embassy for assistance - only to learn that they would have to wait two more years until it yields answers.
This was communicated in a letter from police to the family. But, is the department dragging out the investigation until this becomes a cold case? And how will the Galvez family cope with this not knowing? Imarie's father, Stanley Galvez, answered our questions today.
Stanley Galvez, Father of Imarie
"The latest piece of information I received is stating that the Embassy doesn't have the tools to crack the phone at this moment so to speak. It goes into further details but it doesn't have the tools up to now and they are stating that it will take up to two years before something can be done to the phone but that is something that you know we will all have to verify, because I don't believe that piece of the story."
"I have been doing my own investigation from the start. I'm still doing it I'll continue and I will forever be doing it until we find out who this culprit is no."
Mr Galvez says that he will persist to get answers in whichever ways he can, hoping to break the cycle of what he feels is a systematic problem.
The last female who was found within the same area where Imarie's body was discovered, was the body of 30 year old Celia Florian in November of 2022. Florian had been strangled to death, just like Imarie.
Stanley Galvez, Father of Imarie
"Definitely I won't sit down and wait. I will keep pressing. I will keep on turning the stones. Because I mean not only me, we need to get to the bottom of this. I believe it's very, very important that you know the whole country comes in, and anybody that heard something must could say something because this not only affects me, this the affect the entire country because this is either the second or third incident just like this."
Reporter
"And have you guys asked back for the phone just to see if maybe you can figure out on your own how to unlock it? I read a lot of comments saying that I know it's an Iphone and one of the things that you would be able to do is contact Apple?"
Stanley Galvez, Father of Imarie
"Yeah we are in the stage of doing that. That is my next step forward nuh I don't see how we could retrieve the phone from the police if they would release the phone you know and then I have steps that I will take to ensure that we retrieve the information the valuable information from the phone nuh."
The family wants to take matters into their own hands, and for them the first step in this is getting back their daughter's phone from police. A lot can happen in two years and the Galvez family refuses to let time slip by while their daughter's killer is still roaming free.
As of today, no one else is in cutaway and reports say all the previous suspects have moved out of Belmopan.
