7 News Belize

Playadors Commit Murder and Arson On Ambergris?
posted (August 12, 2014)
But first, we report on the murder of 57 year-old man on San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. Around 1:00 pm yesterday, San Pedro Police and Coast Guard officers went to the Basil Jones area of the Island, which is located some 13 and a half miles away from the Town.

They found a wooden house completely burnt down, and after searching around the surrounding areas, they discovered the body of 57 year-old Santiago William Trapp in a shallow grave half a mile away. He was tied up in a quilt and rigor mortis had not set in, so police believe he was killed about 15 hours before they found him. In a record four hours, a post mortem was conducted on site in the remote area which is only accessible by boat. It found that his throat had been cut - but only after he was beaten and stabbed several times. Police investigators believe that he may have been tortured first.

Why such a cruel end? Well, this area of Ambergris Caye is known for what are called Playador's - Spanish for beach-combers. But these beachcombers aren't looking for shells; they're looking for drugs - the product of wet drops that drug cartels make in Ixcalak Mexico. Numbers of these beach-combers, mostly young men camp out in the area, and scour the beach night and day looking for cocaine parcels to wash up. But, there are two rival groups looking for these wet drops - and they seem to be having a turf war, which is what police believe led to this murder.

Today, we spoke with the commanding officer from San Pedro Police, and he discussed different aspects of the case with us:

Supt. Luis Castellanos, O.C., San Pedro Police
"From Sunday evening about 8 in the night, the family had call me and told me that this gentleman was a missing and they had understood that the house has been burnt. Because it was late in the night and to go to that area was difficult for us so we decide that first thing in the morning for us to depart to that location. We dispatch a team of police officers along with Coat Guard and the family also organized a search team and so the police and the family went to search the area and as a result of that then the family manage to locate the body before the police. We are still investigation. Definitely the building was burnt, so we are looking it as an angle that yes it may be an arson/murder case."

Daniel Ortiz
"Can you describe to us what you guys found on the body to suggest murder?"

Supt. Luis Castellanos, O.C., San Pedro Police
"The body found in a shallow grave about 5 feet deep and about maybe 3 feet in length and he was in a sac bag with a rug - he was wrapped in that and he was covered in the sand. What happen is that the family members, they organized along with the police they conducted searches and they extended themselves in different areas in the area. This family member we understand is the sister of the gentleman. She found an area where she saw some sand on a trunk of a tree and when she placed her feet on it, it sank a little and then she started to kind of clear it out and that's how the gentleman was found. After they dig and confirm apparently he was there - they then call for the police where we then responded to the direct area."

Daniel Ortiz
"Were there any signs of violence on the body?"

Supt. Luis Castellanos, O.C., San Pedro Police
"Yes, from the signs on the body he had a large cut wound on the neck."

Police say that the house that Trapp was the caretaker of was once used a fishing camp, but more recently it has become known as a base for the Playador's.

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