There have been 5 murders in the past two days - a stark contrast to the previous week, which had seen a lull.
Yesterday we told you about the father and daughter who were killed along with another man. And tonight, two more men were murdered in their homes.
66-year-old Joel Andrews is known by everyone in Hattieville as "New York." And though he's named after the big city, "New York" was a farmer, and he had just re-hired a workman who is originally from PG.
This morning, both their bodies were found on the farm.
Courtney Menzies went there today to find out more about these gruesome murders.
This morning, a normally quiet, secluded area of Hattieville was turned into a crime scene after two bodies were found decomposing in a pond.
When our team arrived on scene, the police had just begun their work.
Sr. Supt. Reymundo Reyes, Deputy Comm, Operations, ED
"Police are in the process of processing a scene where the body of two male persons has been found so at this moment the investigation is pretty young so after the scene is processed then we might determine as to what actually happened out here."
Reporter:
"Are you able to determine how they died?"
Sr. Supt. Reymundo Reyes
"Not at this moment."
Later, it was discovered that one of the bodies was that of 66-year-old Joel Andrews, better known as New York. He'd been living and farming in that area for the past decade and a half.
He was killed inside his home, and the other victim, his work man - who'd only been rehired this past Sunday - was killed in a separate house on the farm. Both bodies were then dumped in the pond.
It was a double murder that no one suspected, especially since New York spent his days tending to his pigs. Today his brother told us that farming was his passion, though it worried him Andrews' chose to do it in an isolated area.
Dennis Andrews, Brother of Deceased
"Joel Andrews is a businessman for years, he is like me, we sell fruits and vegetables and we're businessmen and he worked for what he has and this that he has here, it's what he likes. Ever since he loved farming so whosoever took my brother's life, they took someone, I don't want to say the word, they took someone kindhearted. If he could help you, he will help you."
"That's him, this is the thing that he loves farming, from I was a kid, New York loves farming. That's him. And this is what he loves, and when a person loves something, you can't take it from him."
Courtney Menzies:
"Do you know if anything is missing from the farm? We understand it was a robbery."
Dennis Andrews, Brother of Deceased
"Yes but what we understand is that they haven't taken anything, we don't know. They said we got to wait until the forensic came."
Reporter:
"But so far there isn't anything valuable or substantial that's missing?"
Dennis Andrews, Brother of Deceased
"Well we don't know yet. Because I just came and I don't really know what they took but according to the police, they haven't taken anything."
And according to his neighbor, this isn't the first time that Andrews has been harassed. He told us that they chose to live in isolation, but others have been invading their space for a quick "come up."
Clifton Lahoodie, Neighbor/Friend of Deceased
"It's years that man has been back there trying his thing, trying to help himself, because that work you're seeing there is years, it's a lot of years to grow things and get it together."
"I will give you some run down. You can't have animals around a village and not expect the foreigners to come deal with you because I have people who come to deal with me too. This farming life at Belize, everybody out there, they want to live a city life and they don't want a farming life but when they see how a farm look, they will come and reap."
"He had an incident one time when they were trying to take away his gun at the back there. And he never did, which in the police said that he didn't come and report those things, he heard those things and he came to ask me. I told him he told me about some incident he had one time back there. But it was them he should have dealt with. This is the thing, you don't want to run go to the police, you don't get the help that you need."
"That is what it is supposed to be, we are supposed to isolate ourself from the outside world, but the outside world is coming into the isolation to destroy that isolation. We want them to stay in the outside world and live their white man life, nothing is wrong with that. Don't let them come back here, sometimes I want to put a barrier for them to not pass."
But though he lived alone, Andrews made sure to greet all his neighbors on his way out everyday. He sat and spoke with many of them. According to one neighbor, he'd just dropped off a gift for her this past weekend, not knowing it would be one of the last times she saw him alive.
Tisha Moore, Neighbor/Friend of Deceased
"He was friendly but he didn't really mess with people like that, but he was friendly. Me and the man were close. Saturday when he came, Saturday or Sunday, he said, I'm coming from Shipyard, I'm bringing a cake for you. When he reached here it was a cinnamon roll in the can. He said, my mind just went straight on you and I stopped and bought it for you."
"Normally he, like Monday or so, he would come out, or Tuesday, everyday you could say but weekends he would be back there, and every morning he would come and holler for me, Tisha! then he would say, I came for my vehicle. Then he will go. But I didn't see him come today but the last time I heard him talk to me was yesterday he called after 9 and asked about his work man, I told him the work man isn't here."
Courtney Menzies:
"Last night, you didn't hear cars or motorcycles or anything traversing the road?"
Tisha Moore, Neighbor/Friend of Deceased
"No, I didn't hear any of that. It's just since we walked back there, the neighbors told me they heard someone saying, help me, help me, across some creek. I don't know, but that's what they said when we went back there this morning."
"I was shocked because I didn't expect to hear something like that."
Now, those in the area will have to keep an extra eye out for suspicious persons traversing their roads.
But for Andrews, he leaves behind two daughters, and a whole drove of pigs.
While Andrews' brother isn't sure what's missing, it was no secret that he had a firearm - which may have been stolen.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that his work man may have been chopped first, then the killers came and fatally shot Andrews.
