One Teen Dead, Another Friend Still Missing in Belize City

Tonight, a Belize City family is trapped in every parent’s worst fear, waiting, hoping, and searching. Seventeen‑year‑old Alwin Marin has been missing since Thursday, after going fishing with a friend who police later found murdered. As investigators work to piece together what happened to eighteen‑year‑old Jaheil Westby, Marin’s mother says she believes her son’s disappearance is no accident and may be tied to a dispute over a horse. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the details.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Tonight, one family is mourning, and another is living in agonizing limbo. Seventeen‑year‑old Alwin Marin hasn’t been seen since Thursday, and the last person he was with is now dead. Marin and his friend, eighteen‑year‑old Jaheil Westby, left their homes along Jane Usher Boulevard to go fishing in a remote area behind Dykes at the Port of Belize. Neither teen returned that day. By Friday morning, the search turned grim. Westby’s body was found with gunshot wounds, confirming the worst fears of his loved ones. But for Alwin Marin’s family, the nightmare is still unfolding. Tonight, his whereabouts remain unknown, and his mother is anxiously pleading for answers as the hours stretch into days. As police continue their investigation into Westby’s killing, a community waits, and a mother hopes, for word on what happened to her son.

 

Patricia Cardinez, Mother of Missing Person

“My son nuh have no problem with nobody but people have problem with my son and I believe somebody who is in this, it has to be somebody close to my son, who my son trust.”

 

Cardinez believes that at the center of her son’s disappearance and Westby’s murder is a dispute over a horse.

 

Patricia Cardinez

“The young man the wait for my son by the corner with the horse. My son gone pick up a horse down that side by Maria Shop, a brown horse. The young bway weh ih have problems with, I believe he deh with this with my son murder, and I need justice and I really need to find my son. Whoever the hide or the hide behind this need to come out and try help me, cause  this is not working at all, they don’t know how I feel.”

 

Horses are becoming a common sight across Belize City, and so are the problems that come with them. Residents are calling for tighter controls as the animals continue to show up in abuse cases and neighborhood disputes. Viewers will remember the disturbing attack on a horse named Oney in Port Loyola, where young men targeted the animal because it belonged to a rival group. Tonight, a horse is once again at the center of a police investigation.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“I know several searches have been conducted across the city. However, they proved fruitless.”

 

Paul Lopez

“What do police know about reports suggesting that Mr. Westby’s death and Marin’s disappearance has something to do with a feud over a horses or a horse?”

 

ASP Stacy Smith

“I had a very brief conversation with the investigators and they indeed advised that is one of the angles they explore, that indeed there was some dispute over a horse.”

 

The Marin family conducted searches over the weekend in the area where he went fishing but came up empty handed. They are now calling for additional law enforcement support to aid in their efforts.

 

Patricia Cardinez

“I believe something bad happened, because my son usually go and come back. He is not a person that would stay long like that. So I know that something wrong really happened to him. Sometimes you just do your own thing, your friends that you trust and think is your friend is not your friend. Sometimes people just get close to you to get what they want from you and after that it is over. I believe dah off of a horse and they had a hard talking with my son, that is why my son pass, or get shot or whatever. Its off of a brown horse. Whoever they had talking with about this horse, that is the person they have to search for. Without me my son would not be here, so without my son, I wont rest. I need to find my son and put him to rest.”

 

As the search continues for Alwin Marin, his family is calling on police and the public to help bring closure to a case that has left a community shaken. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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