A man was found dead at the Baking Pot Ferry in the Cayo district at 7:00 this morning. He was found hanging - which suggests it was a suicide, but his family and co-worker say they think it was foul play.
We visited the area today:..
Jules Vasquez reporting
Here at the Baking Pot crossing, the life of a ferryman is mostly worry free. But today, this ferry operator says he feels shaken after his co-worker, the night shift man, 40 year old Martin Cesar Castellanos was found dead on the ferry this morning.
He was found hanging from this crossbar at 6:00 am - police estimate that he had been there for 3 hours. He was last seen yesterday.
Maria Castellanos, Wife of Deceased
"Yesterday around 3:30 he was here all day with us and then he went to work, I didn't see him again."
Jules Vasquez
"You saw him yesterday, how did he seem?"
Eliud Cruz, Ferryman
"He looked all right and fresh. He took over the shift at 4pm because he works from 4-7 the next morning."
What happened between yesterday evening and this morning is unknown - did he kill himself, or was he killed?
Reporter
"I understand that he had a confrontation a while ago with someone. Did you know of anything like that or why anyone would want to kill him?"
Maria Castellanos, Wife of Deceased
"I don't know because he didn't tell me anything. I think someone killed him."
Jules Vasquez
"Do you think he committed suicide?"
Eliud Cruz, Ferryman
"I don't know, it's hard to say but I don't think so because if he had hang himself - his body would have move and would have grease on it."
Tonight, police say they are treating it as a suicide, but all agree being the nightman at a ferry is dangerous:
Jules Vasquez
"Was he aware that it was dangerous?"
Maria Castellanos, Wife of Deceased
"Yes he knew because a friend of his - they had left him tied up also."
Eliud Cruz, Ferryman
"It does have a risk because when a vehicle comes, as the ferry man it's your job to pick up the vehicle and carry them to the other side and if you are having problems with someone - you don't know who you are picking up."
"I see that he has two machetes up here but apart from that if someone comes with a gun and hold you up, what can a machete do?"
His wife remembers Cesar as an easygoing person:
Maria Castellanos, Wife of Deceased
"He was a nice man - he liked drinking and gambling."
Police will wait until a post mortem is conducted to announce the cause of death.
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