Belmopan Pastor and Family Being Investigated for Kidnapping  

Tonight, the Belmopan community is shocked following a disturbing report of a kidnapping allegedly committed by a pastor and his family. The trio allegedly held a 23-year-old woman captive inside their home for eight harrowing days. The victim? None other than the pastor’s own daughter-in-law. According to reports, the young woman had tried to escape her troubled marriage, seeking refuge with her family. However, she returned to her husband’s home, and that’s when the nightmare began. Her father-in-law, a trusted religious leader, is accused of tying her up and keeping her bound inside the house, turning the place of worship into a house of horrors. News Five’s Paul Lopez travelled to the Capital City today, speaking to shocked residents as the investigation into this disturbing case continues.

 

Paul Lopez

“We are standing in front of a home on John Saldivar Boulevard in the City of Belmopan where a pastor and his wife and son allegedly held a woman captive, for eight days, against her will. Behind me is the structure where the pastor and his wife lived. Next to the structure is the church where they congregated. Behind these two structures stands a home where the woman and the pastor’s son reportedly lived.”

 

Behind these closed doors are pews and an altar fit for a pastor and a congregation. But according to neighbours, people outside the pastor’s immediate family rarely ever attended the church.

 

Voice of: Neighbor #1

“He is not a pastor. It could show in his face he is not a pastor. He is a bad neighbor, he is a bad, bad neighbor.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Tell me what makes you say he is a bad neighbor.”

 

Voice of: Neighbor #1

“When we have animals you use to like kill the animals. He mih bad with the animals. Poor little animals.”

 

Paul Lopez

“There is a church over there, have you ever attended the church?”

 

Neighbor #2

“No, the last time I visit them was like a year ago. But I don’t visit them because like I say, they don’t push themselves with neighbors. They only separate.”

 

 Paul Lopez

“Do you see anybody attend this church?”

 

Voice of: Neighbor #2

“Sometimes I see the got visitors but all the time, only them.”

 

By all accounts, the pastor, his wife, and their sons were the only true members of this church. There isn’t a sign to indicate a name or a denomination. But inside the pastor’s home, next door from the church he was hiding a secret. Investigators say he was holding his son’s partner captive. A twenty-three-year-old woman tied to a step inside the house for eight days. And this woman was no stranger. She was his daughter-in-law.

 

Paul Lopez

“The young lady, did you see her around anytime?

 

Voice of: Neighbor #2

“No, long time I nuh see that young lady. I mih think they gawn or separate. I don’t know. Long time I nuh see ah.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Did you ever hear anything suspicious in your neighbor’s property?”

 

Voice of: Neighbor #1

“No sir.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Was it surprising to you?”

 

Voice of: Neighbor #1

“Yes, everybody was surprised, my grandpa, my ma, they surprised. How could they do that to a poor lee gial and she mih pregnant.”

 

When police discovered her inside the pastor’s home, injuries were found on her hands and feet. She reported to the police that she was physically and sexually abused while tied up and held against her will. Reports are that she was left to lie in her faeces without being properly fed. The woman’s ordeal began on October fifteenth when she attempted to leave her partner. However, she had to return to the property because her parents were not home when she went there to seek refuge.

 

Voice of: Neighbor #1

“I nuh hear nothing because they use to like do big noise. I don’t know but they use to like play a lot of music.”

 

Voice of: Neighbor #2

“I just hear because they have big band and they put the band and we hear the music way yah. They play music every time but I don’t know what is happening there. But like how you see the house lock up right there it use to lock up all the time. You could only see they are at home because of the vehicle outside. They don’t open the doors for nothing. Like how you see it is right now, all the time it is like that.”

 

Police have detained the pastor, his wife, and their son. Authorities are yet to release their identities. Reporting for News 5, I am Paul Lopez.