Missing Tamales Vendor Found Dead in Drain

A family in Bella Vista is searching for answers tonight after the body of forty-year-old Ernando Pop was discovered on Wednesday. Was it a tragic accident, or is there something more to his death? Pop was last seen a day earlier, and when hours passed without a word, loved ones launched a desperate search. That search ended in heartbreak when his body was found in a flooded drain. Now, questions swirl, did he fall in while under the influence, or is foul play involved? News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

After more than a day of searching, the worst fear of one Bella Vista family came true. Two kids out picking mangoes made a heartbreaking discovery, a man’s lifeless body inside a six-foot-deep drain. That man was forty-year-old Ernando Pop, a familiar face in the village and well-known for selling tamales. His sister, Marvelly Pop, says he left home Tuesday morning to make his usual rounds, but never came back.

 

Voice of: Marvelly Pop, Sister of Deceased

“Cause he usually come in one or two, so she use to that. He and his son goes out and sell. So the boy come in first and my brother come in after him. He never reach so she got concerned. She waited and then time was going, six, seven, and nobody come home. So she said maybe he the out and he has friends and so.”

 

Pop’s wife was under the impression that her husband was out socializing with friends. And at nine p.m. on Tuesday night, she received a call from a villager, Ernando Pop’s motorbike, cell phone, and money bag were found several blocks down from his residence. But he was nowhere in sight.

 

Marvelly Pop

“After she received the call she told her son to go and check out the area and find out. They went and my nephew found everything, the waist bag, just that it was empty, nothing was in there. The phone was unlocked everything, so they brought back the cycle.”

 

Night turned into morning and Ernando Pop still had not returned home to his family. His wife got up at three a.m. on Wednesday to make tamales, in hopes that her husband would show up to go out and make the day’s sales. But, when the sun rose and he did not come home, she visited the police station at seven a.m. to file a missing person’s report. The family formed a search party and by two p.m. on the tenth of September their worst fear was realized.

 

Marvelly Pop

“As far as we know dah mih two lee kids find the body in the drain. Then the police and my family get to know and it was right there that his body was, in the drain.”

 

And tonight, there are questions surrounding Pop’s disappearance and death. His body was discovered further from his home than his personal belongings. Why did he leave his motorbike, cell phone and money bag behind? And, how did he get to the location where he was discovered?

 

Marvelly Pop

“And yes my sister-in-law said she discovered a little bruise on the left side and scratches on his face. I think that is when he dropped. Bruise on the chest and his face. As far as we know it was not a stabbing incident. They found him drowned.”

 

Inclement weather on Tuesday night led to significant rainfall in Bella Vista Village. The six feet drain was flooded. His family has a suspicion that he drowned in the flooded drain and received injuries to his body while trying to escape the rushing water. But a pending autopsy will confirm the true cause of death.

 

Marvelly Pop

“As far as us the family members, there is nothing much we can say. We are waiting for the police to call back and let us know what was it. Nobody is quite sure what happened. We are just going with the flow of finding him in the drain.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Could it have been a case that he lost track of where he was and fell into the drain?”

Marvelly Pop

“Yes, as far as we know that is the information right there. We have no idea if he fell or if there is another story to it.”

 

Ernando Pop and his sons became well known in their community and Placencia Village after only four years of selling tamales. Their business grew over that period and Pop was able to expand from one motorcycle to three, to employ his son and another family member. His death leaves a void in the family that cannot be replaced, but they plan to carry on his legacy by continuing the business. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.