Pregnant Woman and Unborn Child Gunned Down After Prison Visit
An ordinary wait at a roadside bus stop turned into a nightmare that has left a family, and a nation, grieving. A young pregnant woman, moments away from a new chapter in her life, was gunned down in broad daylight near Hattieville. The attack didn’t just take her life, it also claimed the life of her unborn child, in a tragedy that has shocked communities across the country. Investigators are now trying to determine why Jane Urbina of Santa Elena, Cayo, became a target. Just hours before, she had visited her brother, who is currently on remand for a separate murder charge. But whether that connection played a role in this killing remains unclear. What is clear tonight is the growing outrage. Calls for justice are intensifying as police work to uncover a motive behind such a brazen and heartbreaking act. News Five’s Britney Gordon has more on the double tragedy that has left so many searching for answers.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
A young woman on the brink of a new chapter in her life is now at the center of a heartbreaking investigation. Twenty-three-year-old Jane Urbina had just marked her birthday and was eagerly preparing to welcome her first child. Friends and family say she was excited about becoming a mother and building a future for her growing family. But that future was violently cut short. In what police now believe was a targeted attack, Urbina and her unborn baby were killed before she ever had the chance to hold her child, turning what should have been a time of anticipation into one of unimaginable loss.
Hilberto Romero
ACP Hilberto Romero, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch
“Information is that Jane Urbina was at the bus stop in Hattieville and she had gone to the prison when two persons on a motorcycle arrived at the area. One of them came off the motorcycle, approached her, and fired several shots towards her direction, causing her fatal injuries. The motorcycle went towards Belize City. Thereafter, it was followed by a vehicle that was passing in the area, and the motorcycle was run off the road about a quarter mile away from the scene where the motorcycle was abandoned. Two male persons then ran into the bushes. Several searches were done, but they were not found.”
Lionel Urbina
Britney Gordon
“This is the scene where twenty-three-year-old Jane Urbina was fatally shot and killed in a brazen daylight attack that left her and her unborn child dead. Reports are that Jane Urbina was waiting for a bus in Hattieville to take her back to her home in Santa Elena after visiting her brother PC Lionel Urbina at the Belize Central Prison. Lionel Urbina is currently on remand pending murder charges for the 2025 stopping incident that left nineteen-year-old Kevin De Paz dead in Caye Caulker.”
Miriam Castellanos
Investigators are now looking into whether the attack was connected to the murder case against her jailed brother. Following De Paz’s death, Lionel Urbina claimed that he began receiving threats and just a few weeks later his home in Santa Elena became the target of gunfire and the alleged shooter, Hattieville resident, Darnell Arnold, was fatally shot by Urbina during the incident. This isn’t the first time that home has been visited by violence. In 2024, Urbina’s grandmother, Miriam Castellanos, was stabbed to death there. Now, the family says Jane’s killing has ripped open old wounds all over again.
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased
“When them tell me that news, I couldn’t believe. I mi think my auntie did play with me when she tell me that they hurt my cousin. Why? Why they a hurt she fah? She doesn’t nobody nothing. She mi she pregnant, just joyful fi have her a kid, her little baby, all we want, please try give us justice at least for this. My cousin you know, they kill my cousin? I guess in 2016 or 2015 or more back, they kill my cousin. We don’t have no justice, this family. The same thing with my Auntie Miriam. They just kill her, cold-blooded murder, my cousin mom, she just grieve last year. Now she has to grief again for her daughter.”
Jane Urbina
Urbina’s family is calling for increased security in the area as the family has been living in fear for several months.
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased
“She was receiving threats on her phone. But she no have nothing. She innocent, so she tell the guy like, “I no have nothing to do with this. I wish the police would do a justice for us, please. I don’t care, I just want justice. Just give we this one time, at least for this cousin ya.”
Jane Urbina was just two months away from welcoming her first child, a baby boy she had dreamed of for years. Her friend, Whitney Hyde, says she was overjoyed at the thought of becoming a mother and hadn’t even gotten the chance to celebrate with a baby shower.
Whitney Hyde
On the Phone: Whitney Hyde, Friend of Deceased
“She said if she see that and then she would believe. And then when she got pregnant, she told me, hey, Whitney, I’m pregnant. So I told her, Jane, I don’t believe you ’cause you like to play and you like to tell me things that are just to make me laugh. And then she said, No, it’s true. I finally. I’m having a baby.” And then she said that, Now we both are gonna be mothers.”
Police are currently seeking two suspects, who they believe to be from Belize City. Romero also confirmed that police will be visiting the prison to see what details can be gathered as a part of the investigation. Britney Gordon for News Five.
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