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Monica Bodden Reporting
The body of Wilton Robinson -was found floating in the Belize River early this morning in the village of Flowers Bank not too far from where he lived.

The 61 year old man was hoisted and put into this small canoe and then paddled away down the river onto the other side of the village where he was placed into the back of a police pickup truck and taken away to the morgue.

His body was already in an advanced state of decomposition.

61 year old Wilton Robinson - is a villager of Flowers Bank.

According to residents of the village, he left a cricket game late Saturday evening and was under the influence of alcohol.

Winston Flowers - Friend
"He was out there all day Saturday for the cricket game. After the cricket game everybody left, we usually don't leave until it gets dark. After everybody left then he must have left to go home."

Robinson who lives on the other side of the river in the village -was attempting to cross the river in a small canoe to reach home.

His friend Winston Flowers told us he sensed something was wrong when he saw Robinson's empty canoe floating on the river top on Sunday morning.

Winston Flowers - Friend
"When I went down the river Sunday morning about 6 o' clock, I find Mr. Robinson dorey hooked up right in front of Mr. Sanchez property, but I wasn't conscious that that was what happen. All the time I was saying that the dorey had gotten away, so I tied the dorey and I say to myself that the man would come for his dorey. I tied the dorey and continued my way and after I got further down the river I pick up the paddle, it was then that I knew that something has happen."

That was when Flowers informed other villagers…

Winston Flowers - Friend
"Then I bring back the dorey and the paddle to across the river where he lives. Then I call a young lady and ask her if she ever see Mr. Robinson. She told me 'no' I told her that I found the man dorey and paddle down the river. So she sends a little boy to Mr. Robinson house to check if he was there, I then told her that the man must have drowned."

Today residents of Flowers Bank can only speculate what may have gone wrong - for a man who is known to commute across the river frequently.

Winston Flowers - Friend
"Sometime he normal crosses the river back and forth. If he has anyway to go he would go up the river in his dorey. When he wants to come across this side he comes in his dorey and when he is ready he goes back over to his home."

Monica Bodden
"What you think may have been the problem? You think he was intoxicated?"

Winston Flowers - Friend
"Alcohol, he had a little too much alcohol."

Monica Bodden
"You don't know him to be a swimmer?"

Winston Flowers - Friend
"No, he cannot swim. What happen is that he must have feel that the dorey was already on shore and he must have try to see if the paddle would touch and the paddle did not touch and because he was drinking that must have led him to go overboard."

Wilton Robinson was believed to have been under the influence of alcohol.