Faber Family Faces Funeral Delay After Double Tragedy

It’s a heartbreaking story that just keeps getting heavier. Less than two weeks ago, the country was shaken by the brutal murder of Shaniele Faber, a mother of four whose body was found chopped up and stuffed into a garbage drum in Belize City. Now, just ten days later, tragedy has struck again. Her son, Shamar Faber, who’d been battling complications from a gunshot wound since March, has passed away. As the family prepares to bury both loved ones, they’ve hit another painful roadblock. After finally receiving Shamar’s death certificate to move forward with funeral plans, they were suddenly asked to return it, because police had ordered an autopsy. The family says the Belize Police Department wasn’t even informed of Shamar’s death right away, and now they’re the ones paying the price, emotionally and financially. Today, News Five’s Britney Gordon sat down with the Faber family to hear how this latest setback is affecting them.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Back in March, three men were ambushed while driving along the Phillip Goldson Highway. Gunshots rang out, and as the driver tried to escape, the vehicle crashed into the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. He didn’t survive. Among the injured was eighteen-year-old Shamar Faber. After months of hospital visits and fighting to recover, Shamar passed away earlier this week. But the tragedy doesn’t end there, his mother, Shaniele Faber, was brutally murdered just days before, her body found in a garbage drum. Now, as the family prepares to lay both loved ones to rest, they’ve hit another painful setback. Just as funeral plans were coming together, they were told there’s an issue with Shamar’s death certificate, one that could throw off the entire schedule.

 

Shawnette Tillett, Aunt of Deceased

“The issue we’re having   we’re having is with the hospital. Who is telling us now that the medical report that they gave us to register the death is incorrect. They’re not telling us why the why it is incorrect or anything of that sort. They’re just telling us it’s incorrect, and they want us to return a death certificate that is already registered.”

They were told that the certificate must be returned so that an autopsy can be conducted. However, according to Shamar’s aunt, Shawnette Tillett, that would push the funeral date forward by several days, creating additional expenses for the family.

 

Shawnette Tillett

“They’re telling us now that he needs an autopsy done because it’s a police case. That was not told to us the first time at the hospital they issued us a medical, they issued us a medical medical report so that we can register the death and all of that. We have already completed everything already paid to the council already. working with our funeral home to get arrangement. My funeral guy called me and told me that they won’t release the body to him. He was trying to get the bodies, start to prepare the body for funeral, and they’re not allowing him access to this body. That is unfair for our family. We have been going through it.”

 

Tillett says the delay has taken a serious emotional toll on the family, who had already postponed Shaniele’s funeral after Shamar’s death. On top of that, the financial burden is becoming unbearable.

 

Shawnette Tillett

“When it comes to financial stress, we have financial stress, emotional stress. We have been going through it, especially the way how my sister died and then right after that my nephew died. Imagine we are going through stress after stress, and this is unacceptable and un on hospital part. How can you tell us that a medical doctor. Issued us a run cause of debt. That is unacceptable. That is unacceptable. And then the boss or whoever is in charge of hospital says that they’re gonna call me back. No one reached out. No one reached out. But they made efforts to reach out to the boss, vital statistics, who called me and told me that they are wanting us to give them okay to release the debt certificate to them.”

 

The death certificate issued for Shamar Faber lists his cause of death as a serious bacterial infection often picked up in hospital settings. But that may not be the final word. A new autopsy has been ordered, and it could change the official cause of death. According to family spokesperson Tillett, this should’ve happened much sooner. She says the hospital failed to notify police right after Shamar’s passing, delaying the autopsy, and now, the family is left dealing with the fallout.

 

Shawnette Tillett

“I think that they should  have the autopsy done by today, tomorrow, the latest, and have us bury our nephew on Sunday. That’s what needs to be done. That’s all we ask for to be done. And I think that whoever is in charge or whoever made that mistake should be taken, should be hold accountable for what they did. That’s what I believe should be done, and I hope that we get some type of resolution that will benefit this family in some type of way because. At this point, we are just drained.”?

 

The family has already paid thousands of dollars in funeral expenses and estimates that about three thousand dollars remains outstanding. They are calling on the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital to quickly address the situation so that they can proceed with the funerals on Sunday. We reached out to KHMH CEO Chandra Cansino, who said that while she was out of office today, will be looking into the matter for more details. Britney Gordon for News Five.