More Details on First Murder of 2025

Police continue to investigate the first murder of 2025. Over the weekend, it was reported that the lifeless body of a fisherman was found on Turneffe Atoll. The victim was identified as 59-year-old Belize City fisherman, Godfrey Hyde. Hyde was reportedly found face down on a veranda at a wooden fishing camp with gunshot wounds. Initial investigations revealed that a single expended shell was recovered from the crime scene. Hyde’s body was later transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

In an interview with the Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Elton Bennett said, “We were alerted by another fisherman, and our patrol secured the scene. Police and forensics were called to process the site.” The body was found by 52-year-old fisherman Fedrick Dougal, who had reportedly arrived around 6 a.m. to deliver supplies. Dougal quickly alerted the Belize Coast Guard personnel stationed nearby.

According to Bennett, the area where the murder happened had no prior reports or security concerns. He said, “We would transit this camp in order to get to that location, but we have never identified this as a target area for us. So we do not know at this time why any individual would go to that location and commit such a crime.”

While the area where the murder occurred is not typically a focus of patrols, Commandant Bennett stated that “Tuneffe itself has different characters with different groups that would normally fight over fishing turf.” He added that “it is possible that activities such as drug trafficking are present” in other parts of Turneffe.

The Coast Guard is working closely with the police to support the investigation and any further operations.