He might be called Belize's most wanted and tonight, Ellis Meighan is back in the country, and back in police custody where he is wanted for Murder and attempted murder. Meighan was deported from the US and landed in Belize this afternoon where he was processed by police upon arrival and taken into custody. Outside the arrival hall he was greeted by his mother and sister.
For Meighan it is his first time back in Belize since April of 2024, when he was named as the key suspect in the murder of Roy Lee Burgess and the attempted murder of Maia James on the Placencia peninsula. He went on the run and was caught by US border patrol in San Diego in May of 2024.
It is also his first time back since his younger brother Tyrone Meighan was murdered just over a month ago.
But Meighan won't get to grieve with his family - because he is expected to be charged for murder and attempted murder and then face mandatory remand. And while that is the plan, late information to 7News is that laying these charges might be delayed until an ID parade is conducted - complicated by the fact that the main witness to the crime was shooting victim Maia James - who lives in the US.
In June of 2024, she gave her story to "Trapp in Anonymous" in a tell all interview - where she said she saw Meighan in his face before he shot her:
Maia James, Shooting Victim
"He opened the car door and he stepped out and when he did that like I turned around like this and I looked at his face because that's the only reason I'm able to even know what he looks like right now is because I turned and looked at him directly in his face like that."
"And by the time I spin my head back around like this, all I heard was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. And I felt like fire on my ear. Like fire. So I typed in his name, Ellis Meighan, and I see one result. And I'm like, oh my God."
"I called the ICE so fast. I was like, the person you guys have in there has wanted for murder, an attempted murder. He killed my friend and he shot me in my head. What? Yup. She was like, oh my gosh, hold on one second ma'am."
"And she spoke to me a little bit. She transferred me to another lady and questioned me and she was like, okay, we're on it. We're getting in contact."
Host
"What's making you talk?"
Maia James, Shooting Victim
"The fact that he was trying to kill me. He was going to leave me in that car for whoever to find me. All my kids would have grown up, motherless. That's why. I hope this time me being a witness, alive, ready to talk, because they had witnesses before. Everybody just gets threatened. So they never show up to court, but I'm not giving up."
James has had multiple surgeries as a consequence of the gunshot injuries to her face.
We'll let you know when Ellis Meighan is charged.
