7 News Belize

He Killed Keena; She Was a Daughter and A Friend
posted (December 31, 2012)
As we told you at the top of the newscast a man killed his common law wife last night in Punta Gorda and then he took his own lif e- all in front of their small child.

You've heard from his mother, and today Monica Bodden went to Punta Gorda to hear from his family. They are wracked by grief at the loss of a daughter - another victim of a deranged abusive relationship. Here's the full story:..

Monica Bodden reporting
21 year old Keena Williams was murdered under this seaside shed - only yards away from her parents' house.

The incident happened just after 9 last night in the village of Cattle Landing - just outside of Punta Gorda Town.

She was shot once to the right side of her temple by her jealous boyfriend 23 year old James Staine - Staine then pointed his 9mm pistol under his chin and pulled the trigger on himself.

He died on the spot - while Keena was pronounced dead at 9:20pm- 20 minutes after she was shot. The entire incident unfolded in front of the couple's 2 year old son.

Nicole Longsworth - Sister of Deceased
"The ambulance they said took so long and I heard that she still had a heartbeat."

Monica Bodden
"To what part of her body was she shot?"

Nicole Longsworth - Sister of Deceased
"They said in her right temple."

According to neighbors in the area, they heard no commotion under the thatch shed - so no one was alerted to what was happening.

One man told us, he was only yards away from the shed when he heard the first shot go off - by the time he ran out in front of the shed -Staine pointed the gun at himself and pulled the trigger.

Nicole Longsworth - Sister of Deceased
"From what I heard is that there was no commotion - nobody knew that it was going to happen, people thought it was the fireworks - they heard two shots; one pop and the next one pop and I guess people went out there and they came here to get my mom."

Monica Bodden
"Do you think she was being abused?"

Nicole Longsworth - Sister of Deceased
"Definitely, she was being abused."

Today we visited the crime scene of last night's murder and suicide of the young couple. Keena was believed to have been seated here - holding her 2 year old son in her lap at the time she was murdered.

Despite last night's heavy rainfall, the area is still soaked with the young woman's blood. According to friends and family - last night's tragedy had been foretold.

Monica Bodden
"She never mentioned anything to you?"

Nicole Longsworth - Sister of Deceased
"She did and I have on my cell phone; if BTL can check my cell phone told her Keena this boy will kill you and so said so done. The night we were talking on the phone, If BTL can check the text messages from him because he is psycho and he likes to threaten her."

Monica Bodden
"Was it a jealous case?"

Nicole Longsworth - Sister of Deceased
"He is very obsessive. He used to live here; he used to spend hours and hours in the room. My sister couldn't come out. He was used to jealous with my dad around my sister; he is jealous with everybody. He is so obsessive, but my sister wanted her life so sweet that she had to hide things and make it seem okay."

"I think that this is not the first time that he has threatened my sister with a gun and I think she wanted to leave him and I guess he says that if he can't have her then nobody else can. It's devastating - she was going to leave him."

Staine and Williams had been together a little over two years - and had one child together. But their relationship was not as healthy as they perceived it to be.

Keena Williams was allegedly being silently abused by the man she loved. Until recently when the young girl opened up and began telling her friends and family members what she was going through.

Yesterday morning, she packed a suitcase with her belongings and moved out - to her mother's house. It was there Keena was last night when Staine stopped by asking if they can talk over by the seaside shed.

Stephanie Locario - Bestfriend
"She told me everything about him. She started to confess telling me that he beat her in front of her son and she had to hide it from her mother because he threaten her many times that he was going to kill her and the baby and her mother and her father. He beat her many times. She couldn't go anywhere, she couldn't have any friends, he would go through her cell phone, I couldn't talk to her when he was around. He lock her up many times in the house where he was staying and left her locked up for days and just let her go when it's time to come home to her mother. He destroyed her life, she called me the morning that she died and she said Stephanie I can't no more, I am leaving and I have to leave or not he will kill me. She told me that he called and tell her that he will kill papa (her baby), kill me and kill himself. I said Keena tell your mother to report it to the police station because he will do it."

The unpacked suitcase still sits upstairs her mother's house - A clear indication that this battered young woman was attempting to get out of an abusive relationship.

Retrieved from off last night's crime scene was a 9mm pistol with 14 live rounds of ammunition - The gun was still in James Staine's left hand. Two expended shells were recovered from the area.

We understand that Staine had recently gotten his gun license and bought his gun only 2 months ago.

Stephanie Locario - Bestfriend
"She told me that when he went to license the gun and when they gave him the license - when he came back from Belmopan he took her at the house he was staying and he hold her by her neck and open her mouth and put the gun in her mouth and tell her that if she ever do me anything or leave me this is what you will get, so he mean what he was saying - he just kill her."

And there was a long list of abuse that was happening in Keen's life that she only shared with her best friend - whom she confided in.

Stephanie Locario - Bestfriend
"She was very scared. If she go into town he would time her and tell her that she has 15 minutes to ride your bicycle and get back home and if you don't I am going for you and in many occasions he went for her - pick her up in the vehicle and put the bicycle in the vehicle and he bring her back home and she would tell me that he slaps her when he gets home."

Monica Bodden
"You knew Keena for a long time?"

Stephanie Locario - Bestfriend
"I knew her for a long time. We have been friends for a long time."

Monica Bodden
"You saw the changes in her?"

Stephanie Locario - Bestfriend
"Yes, she couldn't text anybody; she couldn't receive call from anybody. She had a business but whenever he comes around she can't talk to anybody, strictly business and that's it, even with me, she couldn't talk to me when he was around. She couldn't say hi or bye, we pass through on the streets like we didn't knew each other and then she would call me when he leave and say you see how that fool have me and I would say yes friend, but it's up to you to make the decision."

Keena had her own clothing business that she invested her time into and like any other ambitious young women, she had dreams - which she will never get to live out.

Nicole Longsworth - Sister of Deceased
"She is loving, outgoing, she loves to party but when this guy came into her life it was a total change because nobody knew Keena was that kind of person. Keena was very outgoing, talented, smart and he just took that away from her."

And while for the families of the two dead adults, the loss is enormous and the tragedy incalculable, what about the child they shared? He's only two years old and witnessed his own mother being killed by his father. Today his grandmother told us he is traumatized:..

Michelle Swasey, mother of James Staine Sr.
"It happened in front of my grandson. Kina's mom told me that my grandson was traumatized because he keeps saying to her that Daddy shot Mommy. He's traumatized. I hope he's ok right now."

"Years ago I lost Leslie and now my son so it's very, so I know what a lot of people going through when their loved on died out there."

The child remains with his mother's family with whom he is familiar. Keena's murder became the 145th for 2012 - by far the most murders ever recorded in Belize. The previous high was 129 in 2012 - and last year recorded 123 murders. December also recorded 15 murders, the highest in 6 months.

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