Family of Leonard Baltazar Pleads for Police to Reopen Case  

The family of Leonard Baltazar is urging the police to reopen the investigation into the twenty-two-year-old’s death. On December eleventh, Baltazar was found dead near a resort on Tobacco Caye. Initial reports suggested that two guests at the Reef’s End Lodge caught Baltazar trying to burglarize their cabana. Allegedly, a struggle ensued, causing Baltazar to fall off a balcony to his death. However, his family disputes this account. They claim that Baltazar tried to flee but was chased, leading to his tragic death. We spoke with his stepfather, Vince Higinio, to hear their side of the story.

 

On the Phone: Vince Higinio, Stepfather of Deceased

“I’m gonna tell you that we did our own investigation, gave the police time to do their investigation. And this is the information that we got from the police. The back door was left open. The man, the tourist, startled mister Leo, startled Leo, and he ran. He ran out the room. The tourist chased him and confronted him outside the room. Self-defense, once the person runs, there’s no longer self-defense because you’re not defending yourself. There’s no threat to your person, and you can look this up in the law. There’s no threat to your person, so he does not have that defence. He confronted, even though, and we’re going to his mother, everyone accepts the fact that he was wrong for being in the room, according to their story, again, we investigated and the story changes. He was wrong for being in the room, but when he ran, he was no longer a threat to the man.  Self-defense is you defending yourself. He was defending his property. He wasn’t defending himself. Self-defense claim goes out the window. It has to be looked at again. This is unjust. And I think if it was your family member or any family member that this was done to. And I’m going to tell you this the investigation that we did, Is that the woman, mister Taylor’s wife paid Neil that money that was found in his pocket to come have sex with her. That’s why the back door was open.  What happened after that? When he got into the room, we don’t know.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Okay. And police have not shared this information with you. This is from your own personal investigation.”

 

On the Phone: Vince Higinio

“Talking to people that were there, some of his friends that were there.”