The tragic loss at City Hall now leaves a vacancy that is yet to be filled. It also casts a dark shadow over the incoming council, as Stephanie Lindo-Garbutt was set to administer the oath of office for the new members.
Isani Cayetano
“It’s a significant void to fill, particularly at this juncture. You’re about to start another three-year term in office. What takes place next, in terms of, one, the swearing-in and, two, being able to fill this particular post?”
Bernard Wagner
Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor
“In respect to filling the post, I haven’t had time to really think about filling the post because you are processing so much. Right now I noh even have time fi think who we would recommend for replacement. Currently, the Ministry of Local Government, given that the municipality falls under their jurisdiction, we have had discussions and so, in the interim, so as to continue the operations of the city, we have to have someone there responsible and we, along with the local government, have appointed Sharlene Rudon to fill this transition period for us so as to ensure that the operations of the city continue and that the swearing-in occurs without any hiccups.”
Edmund Kwan
Edmund Kwan, Councilor-Elect
“I just want to express my condolences to the city on a whole because Mrs. Stephanie was really the head of our, basically the head of our city council, you know, and it’s really a tragic loss to the whole city. Words can’t express how I’m feeling right now.”
Alan Pollard
Alan Pollard, Councilor-Elect
“I’m really still trying to process it. It’s very unbelievable, shocking and it just feels like a bad dream. CA was a lot of things. CA was a hard worker, she was almost robotic in carrying out her tasks. Seamless, she worked very hard, long hours and one thing, like the mayor said, she was strong-willed.”
A motorist lost his life in the Orange Walk District on Sunday night while driving a vehicle along the Chan Pine Ridge Road. Police say that Jimmy Reyes, the driver of a van carrying two other passengers, lost control, crashed and overturned several times before coming to rest. Reyes suffered fatal injuries and died while being transported to the Northern Regional Hospital.
“On Sunday, March 10th, 2024, around 7:30 p.m., police visited Chan Pine Ridge Road where they saw the body of a male person on the street. He was identified as Jimmy Reyes. Information is that Jimmy Reyes was driving an Astro Van when he lost control of the vehicle which crashed and overturned and he sustained fatal injuries. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. There were also two other persons along with him, Nasir Vasquez and Johann Valencia received minor injuries and were treated at the hospital.”
Reporter “Did you guys get a statement from the two passengers?”
A minor was the victim of a lone gunman who took aim at him on Sunday night as he was walking along Linda Vista Street in the Lake Independence area. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero, the young man was the intended target of his assailant.
“On Sunday, March tenth, around 9:10 p.m., police responded to a shooting incident on Linda Vista Street in Belize City. Upon their arrival, they found Rojan Thomas with a gunshot injury. Information is that Thomas was walking on the street when he was approached by a male person who fired the shots towards him, causing the injury to him. Thomas is presently at the KHMH receiving treatment and is in a stable condition. Investigation continues into this report.”
Reporter
“Have police been able to determine whether he was targeted or not?”
Hilberto Romero
“Yes, the investigation revealed that he was the one that was targeted.”
Reporter
“Has anyone been detained as yet?”
Hilberto Romero
“No one is detained.”
Reporter
“[Is it] gang affiliated?”
Hilberto Romero
“We are looking at all the information to try to establish if there is any connectionto any gang but so far that has not been determined.”
During his appearance on Open Your Eyes this morning, Prime Minister John Briceño, expressed condolences to the families of Stephanie Lindo and Oswald Garbutt. The couple was found dead in their residence on Freetown Road in Belize City on Saturday morning. Lindo was allegedly shot and killed by her husband Garbutt, proprietor of Blue Steel Sounds. Garbutt then reportedly turned the gun on himself.
PM Briceño said, “My heart reached out…this terrible tragedy on Saturday with Stephani Lindo and her husband. Still at a loss. I know Bill Lindo very well and I know that he is hurting beyond words, he and his family. We reached out to both families. I still don’t know what really transpired. It is tragic.”
PM Briceño described Lindo as “full of life.” She was the City Administrator.
Attorney Orson “OJ” Elrington was today charged with rape. He appeared in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court where he was offered bail of eight thousand dollars plus one surety. The prosecution did not object to bail.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl Lynn Vidal told News Five, “I met with the Complainants in the matter and based on what they said to me, we did additional work and it was at the end of that process that we were in a position to make a decision.”
As we have been reporting, two women alleged that the attorney raped them. In January Police Commissioner Chester Williams told reporters that “According to them while on their way home they were told by the attorney that they would stop at his house for one final drink after which he would take them home. They agreed, and they stopped off at a house according to them and whilst at the house they continued to drink and taking some shots of tequila. One of them said that she drank to the extent that she could not recall what took place after leaving the nightclub until the next day morning when she was awakened on the bed in the nude beside the attorney who was also semi nude. And her other partner who was there with her at the same time told her certain things. According to them while they were at the house the night drinking, they began to become intimate and that intimacy lead to him having sexual intercourse with them against their will and then the next day morning when they went home the one who is from Belize City told her boyfriend what transpired and he told her to report the matter to the police. “
Earlier today in the courtroom of Justice Derick Sylvester, accused murderer Shawn Hertular, who has been convicted of a similar capital offense in the past, saw the charge against him being dismissed. That’s because a Crown Counsel from the D.P.P.’s Office failed to appear in court for a hearing involving that matter this morning. Hertular was arrested and charged in connection with the stabbing death of Miguel Zaiden in November 2021. Zaiden, a resident of Amara Avenue here in Belize City, was viciously attacked and stabbed multiple times by a man as he attempted to drive away on a motorcycle. Prior to that incident, Hertular had been sentenced to twenty years in prison for a previous killing.
In November 2023, six police offers were dismissed from their post in connection with the landing of multiple drug planes in 2021. The accused are, Delwin Casimiro, Nelson Middleton Junior, and Eric Young, all former police officers who were linked to a drug plane landing and were charged criminally and later dismissed from the Belize Police Department. The case also included Manuel Caliz, along with his sister, Epifania Caliz who was dismissed primarily for ammunition charges and her husband Elmer Nah, who was charged jointly for possession of prohibited ammunitions without a gun license. The officers were dismissed in November of 2023 in a letter they all received from the Commissioner of Police Chester Williams ordering them to state a reason why they should not be dismissed. All applicants did so but in response, Williams said the men gave no valid reasons and they were subsequently dismissed. Today, leave was granted for judicial review by a newly appointed judge. The leave for judicial review is for them to now go in search of certiorari as the judge squashed the Compol’s decision to dismiss these officers. Representing the six applicants in court was attorney, Lyndon Jones. The Attorney General’s Ministry was represented by Samantha Matute, the Assistant Solicitor.
We begin tonight’s newscast with a murder in Bermudian Landing Village. Forty-year-old Shane Baizar was last heard from on Thursday last week. He was reported missing several days lady after efforts to locate him proved futile. This morning, his dog led a search party of relatives and friends to his badly decomposed body inside a shallow grave near his home. It is believed that Baizar knew his killer. This afternoon police hunted down that suspect and shot him to death while attempting to detain him. We will tell you more about that later. But first, we take you to Bermudian Landing Village where News Five’s Paul Lopez spent the morning alongside the search party until Baizar’s body was discovered. Here is that report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
The badly decomposed body of forty-year-old Bermudian Landing businessman Shane Baizar was discovered in a shallow grave near his home. Baizar resided on a property that spans several acres which he used to take tourists on ecological tours. His cousin, Browning Williams, last heard from him on Thursday evening.
Voice of: Browning Williams
Voice of: Browning Williams, Cousin of Deceased
“I spoke to Shane on Thursday and he told me he then come dah my house. I told him I nuh ready fih come up yet. So, I called him back like minutes to six and he told me he already at Lowes in Ladyville, but I wasn’t at home yet. So I told him go through my boyfriend the home. He told me I just gwen dah the yard and pass through because I have to go home and deal with something. So my cousin call me and told me to ask Shane how much to stay in the room because he have a little resort. I call Shane and he didn’t answer or seen me and Shane is the type of person that even if he send me a text, he always responds back.”
On Saturday, Williams took to social media to seek assistance in locating Baizar, after receiving information that his house had been left open but he was nowhere to be found. On Sunday morning, Williams and Baizar’s sister, Stacy Baizar, visited the Ladyville Police Station to file a missing persons report. His family then organized a search party to canvass his property.
Voice of: Stacy Baizar
Voice of: Stacy Baizar, Sister of Deceased
“We came up yesterday and a lot of us the family member, we walked the property and looked in some bushes and took the boat down the river and saw nothing and said we were going to come back this morning and tried to find him again.”
Shane Baizar
Voice of: Browning Williams
“Yesterday when we came to do the search yesterday, this dah after police left, this dah after the forensics left I came and walked to the edge of Shane yard and my foot touched Shane ring and his ring was on the ground covered in blood. I say my God, maybe my family the try show me a sign, that I the yah fam, nuh stop look for me, I am right here.”
Sunday’s search also led to the discovery of a makeshift shed on the property, near the river. The shed is believed to have been used by Baizar’s killer as a hideout, as the suspect was wanted by police for questioning in connection with several other murders. There they discovered clothing, food and a hammock. This morning, a group of relatives and friends from Bermudian Landing assembled in front of Baizar’s home once more.
Voice of: Stacy Baizar
“Basically to meet up out here and try to find him or anymore clues that might lead us to where he might be.”
An hour after they gathered, police officers began to show up on the scene. A team of heavily armed police officers joined a group of residents to search along one of the trails on the property. A second team proceeded to the river bank to conduct searches on water. And, just as that team was working to secure a canoe, a phone call came in with information that the first search party discovered what appeared to be a shallow grave, near one of the unfinished cabanas on the property. The area of interest was discovered by Shadow, Baizar’s dog. Shadow began to dig inside an unfinished septic tank that contained sand and broken branches.
Voice of: Browning Williams
“Yesterday, when we did the search yesterday they called and told us that the vehicle deh dah Cotton Tree. They told us that Shane body deh dah Hatieville dah the bus shed. They mih the do everything to throw us off track from right here weh part we deh.”
Baizar’s pickup truck was discovered in St. Mathews Village on Sunday. Moments after police identified the septic tank as an area of interest, Scenes of Crime personnel arrived at the location. They suited up and proceeded to remove the branches and dirt from inside the unfinished structure. There, they found Baizar’s badly decomposed body, much to the dismay of those who were gathered near the scene.
Paul Lopez
“What do you make of the information that he may have somehow not only known his killer, but that this person may have been hanging around.”
Voice of: Browning Williams
“Shane, I feel he trusted too much people, his circle was too big and everybody know Shane. If you hungry Shane wah feed you, if you need somewhere to stay, Shane will let you stay and I feel like that was his downfall.”
News Five understands that an attempt was made on Baizar’s life two weeks ago in the village. Strangely, this morning someone used his Facebook page to post a Chevy Equinox for sale.
Voice of: Stacy Baizar
“That is the thing that annoyed us because somebody was playing with us and they were posting and you know, but, that’s…”
In the span of just a few days, a series of tragedies have befallen the quiet village of Libertad. On Saturday, March second, Breeann Kyle, a forty-one year old American resident residing in Libertad, Corozal, was found dead inside her home next to her ten-month-old daughter, who, fortunately, was uninjured. Kyle’s husband, twenty-year-old Jaquan Smith, had informed the police of his wife’s death while he was receiving treatment at a hospital for injuries suffered in a car crash. Smith was detained pending questioning in the alleged murder of his wife, but would later be found dead in his cell after seemingly committing suicide. News Five’s Britney Gordon Reports.
Britney Gordon, reporting
Residents of Libertad are left in a state of shock after several devastating incidents occurred in succession within just three days. On Saturday, March second, police responded to the reports of a road traffic accident between mile seventy-four and seventy-five of the Philip Goldson Highway. When police arrived at the Corozal Community Hospital where twenty-year-old Jaquan Smith was receiving treatment for his injuries, he revealed that his wife had been murdered in their shared home in Libertad. The body was discovered by an Orange Walk taxi driver who had been contacted by Kyle’s parents to investigate the scene on their behalf. There, he found forty-one year old Breeann Kyle, deceased on her couch with multiple stab wounds. Also in the house was Kyle and Smith’s infant child, unharmed, aside from being left unattended to. According to residents of the neighborhood, the couple had recently moved in after Kyle’s father, Leo Kyle, purchased the house.
Pedro Teck
Pedro Teck, Neighbor
“I don’t know them by name. I just saw them one day when I came from Belize. I saw who was the person who bought the house. From John Nelson, from my boss. He owned it, but he sold it to Mister Leo. The last owner who they said they killed his daughter.”
Britney Gordon
“So how long has mister Leo’s family been living in there?”
Pedro Teck
“Oh, they just came down from the States, I would say about two months, not so long.”
According to Teck, the couple was unfamiliar to most of the villagers; since they had recently relocated to Libertad and that the house was a short distance from their nearest neighbors.
Britney Gordon
“Are they, integrated into the village? Do people know them well?”
Pedro Teck
“No, no, no, not no much. Only one guy know him, the guy that do mechanic work for them, the guy to the back there. So he’s the one who when mister Leo heard that they killed his daughter, he called the guy and told him to take care of the baby while he comes back from the States.”
Upon hearing the news, Kyle’s father flew to Belize on Sunday, but would receive more unfortunate news, as the suspected murderer was found dead in his prison cell this morning at the Corozal Police station. According to Police Commissioner, Chester Williams, Smith died by hanging himself.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“We had an incident in Corozal where a young American fellow was accused of killing his wife. He was eventually intercepted by the police at a traffic accident scene in Corozal and taken into custody. This morning the police went to clean a cell. He was in a cell, black, alive and well, and the police left to retrieve the prisoner’s food and returned about 10 minutes later. Upon return, They found him hanging in the cell by his pants, with his pants. So, he took off his long pants that he was wearing and hung himself. So, he is now deceased.”
Williams stated that the police overseeing Smith’s detainment had carried out their duties correctly and that the situation was an unfortunate incident.
Chester Williams
“Very unfortunate situation. I know that some might want to say the police could have done more, but the police would normally do cell block checks, like, every half an hour. And if they had just cleaned the cell and ten minutes returned with food to feed the man, I couldn’t, I would not be able to see where the police would have faltered in that situation. It’s an unfortunate situation, but again, we have to deal with that.”
In the case of the Libertad murder-suicide of husband and wife Breeann Kyle and Jaquan Smith, we spoke with Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, for more information. According to Williams, despite an existing policy to relieve detainees of items that would be harmful to them, the police department is not in a position to have detainees remove articles of clothing. Here’s Williams with the update.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Saturday the morning police responded to a traffic accident on the Belize Corozal Road in just on the outskirt of Corozal Town., where they encountered an American male individual. He was taken to the Corozal Community Hospital, where he received medical treatment, and there the police learned that his wife has been murdered. Police eventually detained him, and he was taken to the Corozal Police Station, while police had gone to his home in Libertad, too. Upon police arrival there, the lifeless body of his wife was found inside the home. And police also found a shallow grave that was being dug. And believe it was dug with the intent of disposing of the body of his wife. He eventually told the police that someone had gone into the home and killed his wife and he was trying to bury the body before, instead of reporting it to the police. Nonetheless, the police did not buy that story. Our indications were that he was the one who actually killed his wife. As a matter of fact, there were some collaboration from a family friend of the wife, whom were notified by the wife’s parents that something was going on at the house between the two, and the family friend was summoned to go to the house to secure the safety of the child, which the family friend eventually did. So, the investigation were ongoing, and this morning the police went to clean the cell block. And the male prisoner was still in custody alive and well. And the police eventually left to go and retrieve the prisoner food. And returned ten minutes later, upon their return, they found him hanging from the bar of the cell with his long pants that he was wearing at the particular time. And so, we are currently dealing with that matter now as a case of suicide.”
Reporter
“What have officers said about his state of mind? Or apparent state of mind?”
Chester Williams
“Well from what I am getting, there was nothing to indicate that he would have committed suicide but part of the protocol that we normally do is to make sure that whenever we have a prisoner in custody, whether there is signs of, If them wanted to commit suicide or not, we would normally take away items from them that they believe they can use to commit suicide. So, like a shoelace, a belt, or anything of that sort. But we cannot go to the extent of removing a person’s clothing. That would be tantamount to cruel and humane treatment.”
Reporter
“Have the police been able to speak to the residents or any of their family members to find out whether there was a history of domestic violence or whether there was any troubles in this relationship?”
Chester Williams
“Well, like I said, the police spoke to a family friend who got a call from the family of the female, the wife, who told this family friend certain things and that information has been communicated to the police and is a part of the investigation.”
Reporter
“Was there any history? Had she made any prior report?”
Chester Williams
“At this time I can say no.”
Reporter
“A child was also in the house, we understand, an infant?”
Chester Williams
“Yeah, the child was secured by the family friend who, who was called by the wife’s relatives from the States. So I think that child has been turned over to social. And while we try to work through the U.S. Embassy to see if there’s going to be any family member of the wife who would come to claim the child.”
Reporter
“Isn’t it factual, however, that he had already tried to harm himself by getting into the accident, which, as I understand it, was a deliberate act on his part?”
Chester Williams
“Well, I can’t say the accident were deliberate on his part, and again, he was in custody from Friday [Saturday], and he didn’t attempt to have committed suicide, so I can’t say.”
