Mother of Four Found Murdered in Garbage Drum; Suspect in Custody

It’s a story that’s left Belize City shaken. A mother of four, brutally murdered, her body found stuffed inside a garbage drum at a busy intersection. Forty-two-year-old Shaniele Faber’s death has stunned the community, and surveillance footage shows a man dragging that drum in the early hours of Saturday.  Following the gruesome incident, police have formally arrested and charged one suspect with the crime of murder. He is fifty-five-year-old Goldburne Adolphus, a security guard of Belize City. Tonight, News Five has those chilling videos, and we’ve spoken with Faber’s grieving family, as well as investigators who are working to piece together what happened. Paul Lopez has the details.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

On Saturday afternoon, a gruesome discovery was made at the corner of Amandala Drive and Cemetery Road. It’s a chilling scene that’s hard to forget, Shaniele Faber’s lifeless body found stuffed inside a garbage drum. Surveillance cameras caught the moment a man wheeled that drum down Cemetery Road, right to the corner of Amandala Drive. It’s a disturbing image that’s now at the center of a murder investigation.

 

From this vantage point, he comes into frame at around six-thirty-nine, bent over pushing a blue garbage drum on a trolley. The suspect paused, moved away from the drum and walked towards the corner of Amandala Drive. Another angle captured him hanging a plastic bag on the zinc fence at the corner before walking back to the drum.  When he returned, the suspect began pulling the trolley, changing his strategy because the weight of the drum was evidently an issue.

 

The suspect then pushed the drum to the intersection where he was captured struggling to get it upright. A black bag that was on the drum fell onto the sidewalk. The suspect is seen using his own body weight at the bottom of the drum to get it upright. And after he finally succeeded at doing that, he took the black bag and carted it off further up Amandala Drive. This is at six, forty-three a.m. The suspect returned a couple minutes later with his trolley on his back, no bag and the blue drum left at the corner. He walked in the same direction that he came from, towards this apartment complex where the suspect allegedly resides.  Police have since detained the man seen in the video.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“So far, police’s investigation includes the review of a video footage which has led police to the detention of one male person who is currently in custody and charges are expected to be brought in connection to the incident.”

 

The gruesome discovery of the lifeless body of forty-two-year-old Shaniele Faber was made just before six p.m. that evening. A passerby reportedly made the discovery. Faber’s family, including her eldest daughter, Arkeyia Faber, remain in shock. She spoke with her mom a week ago.

 

Voice of: Arkeyia Faber, Daughter of Deceased

“My mah dah mih wah real nice lady, she like party. She loved her kids. I know my mom wanted to change. But why they had to do this to my mom. They deal with my mom like she was not a person. She was a human being. I not even get to tell my mom anything after that day. That hurt me, what they did to my mom. That person need to pay for what they did to my mom. He need to pay.”

Shaniele Faber’s brother, Kyle Tillett, told News Five that he last saw and spoke with his sister on Monday of last week, while their mother last saw her on Wednesday. His birthday was on Thursday, and he found it strange that she did not reach out.

 

Voice of: Kyle Tillett, Brother of Deceased

“We did not file any missing report, because this is something she would do. Sometimes she would come. My mom is who she would come and visit most of the time. She did not come, after that Wednesday evening when my mom saw her she did not come back.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Do you know if she had any business at that apartment, any acquaintances?”

 

Voice of: Kyle Tillet

“To be real, she had a lot of friends. She is a party person. I don’t know most of her friends. I don’t know what she went to do at the apartment or what went on there.”

 

According to police, a forensic examination will determine the extent of the injuries that Shaniele sustained and in what state authorities found her body.

ASP Stacy Smith

“It is the police’s duty whenever anybody is detained and they want to make any statement in relation to their defense that they are afforded to do so. So that is what I believe is happening and thereafter a decision will be taken as to what charges will be brought under the circumstances.”

Faber left behind four children. She was employed as a school warden at a primary school. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.